Political Suitability: Competition Just a Farce, New Assistants in BiH MFA Already Known

The Agency for Civil Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced a competition to fill three positions of senior civil servants: Assistant Minister in the Sector for General Affairs, Assistant Minister in the Sector for Multilateral Affairs, and Assistant Minister in the Sector for International Legal and Consular Affairs, reports the Patria news agency.  

Interested candidates could submit applications until January 8, and exams will be held on January 25, 26, and 27. However, that everything is already prearranged and that it is precisely known who will get which position is an open secret within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Thus, the position of Assistant Minister in the Sector for General Affairs is reserved for Dragiša Delić, who is the favorite of Minister Igor Crnadak, while the seat of Assistant Minister in the Sector for Multilateral Affairs awaits Almir Šahović, a cadre of the SDA.

Šahović, it is worth recalling, spent years alongside the late former SDA President Sulejman Tihić, and was one of his key men in diplomacy. In the meantime, Šahović moved to the team now aligned with Bakir Izetbegović, so this position has been secured for him.

The third position is reserved for the HDZ candidate. It is reported that the HDZ wants either Dražen Gagulić or Igor Bašić for this position. 

Although the competition announcement by the Agency for Civil Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not mention that the assistant positions will be filled according to the national key, according to information obtained by Patria, it has been internally decided which position will go to Bosniaks, which to Serbs, and which to Croats.

It is also interesting that some of the candidates who also applied for the competition were “amicably” told that they have excellent references but lack political support from the parties currently calling the shots within the MFA—PDP, SDA, and HDZ BiH.