Presidency of BiH is not competent for BHRT, Bećirović's populism will not solve the problems of 800 workers

By Amra Vrabac

Member of the Presidency of BiH Denis Bećirović (SDP BiH) requested an urgent session of the Presidency of BiH due to the critical financial situation at the Public RTV Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT).

Although Bećirović knows that the Presidency of BiH is not competent for this issue, he decided, at a time when the Public Service's accounts are blocked and the future of around 800 employees is uncertain, to engage in populism and score some points with his electorate, while essentially being unable to help BHRT in any way.

Instead of empty talk in the Presidency of BiH, Bećirović could have, for example, asked the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH Borjana Krišto (HDZ BiH), to whom he and Željko Cvijanović gave the mandate to form the Council of Ministers of BiH, to have the Council of Ministers of BiH react and allocate emergency funds to BHRT to at least settle urgent debts such as electricity, gas, and telephone bills, without which the programming of not only BHRT but also FTV is at risk. That would be a concrete move, but Bećirović will not do it because it is easier to deceive people with letters and initiatives that are doomed to fail from the start.

The agony of BHRT has not started yesterday. Throughout 2025, the management of BHRT sent letters to several relevant addresses, requesting a timely reaction that never came.
The Delegation of the European Union appealed to the authorities and politicians in BiH to find a solution for BHRT and enable its continued operation. The Public RTV Service is also one of the EU's priorities, and its founder is the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, which also passed the state law on the Public RTV Service.

To BHRT's appeal and requests for the High Representative Christian Schmidt to get involved, he directly stated on BHRT's program that he would not intervene or make decisions. And if we recall the decision regarding seven cultural institutions of state importance, the Council of Ministers of BiH has never acted upon that decision either, so these institutions are still fighting for every mark and project today to ensure minimum working conditions. And some of these institutions have not paid their employees for months due to a lack of funds.

Attempts to allocate funds for BHRT through the BiH Institutions Budget for 2025 have also failed, and the Minister of Finance and Treasury Srđan Amidžić stated that BHRT cannot be included in the budget because it is not a budget user.

BHRT's debts currently exceed 100 million KM. If the debt of 22 million KM to the EBU is not settled in February, BHRT's assets will be put up for sale.

Although responsibility for the poor management of BHRT, which has led to accumulated debts to employees, suppliers, and those who signed preferential contracts and paid hundreds of thousands of marks to productions, must be clearly established, the most important thing now is to ensure the normal functioning of BHRT as much as possible.

BHRT warned that the shutdown of their transmitters would also mean problems for FTV and some other institutions that use their network.

BHRT requested help from the line minister of Transport and Communications Edin Forto, and for the possibility of allocating funds from the Central Bank of BiH and the Communications Regulatory Agency to be explored. However, for now, all these attempts have remained only words on paper.

And if you follow Denis Bećirović's statements in more detail, you will notice a pattern where he proposes initiatives related to matters over which neither he nor the Presidency of BiH have any influence. Just as no one benefits from his numerous meetings with European and other officials, no matter how many times he meets, which he regularly informs us about. So it is not surprising that he earned the nickname "Counter".