House of Representatives of BiH today on salaries, excise taxes, and the Law on the Flag

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to consider the principles of the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Salaries and Benefits in BiH Institutions, proposed by MP Šerif Špago, on its session scheduled for today.

The Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Representatives determined the compliance of this proposal with the Constitution of BiH and the legal system of BiH. The Committee for Finance and Budget did not support the principles of the proposed law and will submit a negative opinion to the House.

The proposer of the mentioned law explained in the justification that the proposed law is submitted in order to balance the salaries of budget users.

Špago stated at the session of the Committee for Finance and Budget that it is an amendment to one article of the Law, which determines the base salary.

He explained that the reasons for adopting the law are primarily contained in the fact that the budget for BiH institutions for 2023 envisages an increase in the salary base from 535 KM to 630 KM.

"Considering the way salaries are determined in institutions, this increase in the base would lead to a disproportionate increase in salaries for employees. For example, employees with the lowest coefficient would see an increase of about 114 KM, while officials, i.e., members of the Presidency of BiH whose coefficient is 10, would see an increase of about 950 KM," Špago stated.

The report of the Joint Committee of both houses on harmonizing the text of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Excise Taxes in BiH, the adoption of which would enable a reduction in fuel prices, should be presented to the representatives.

The Committee for harmonizing the text of this law, which was adopted in different versions in the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the PSBiH, harmonized it in such a way that excise taxes on fuel would be abolished for a period of six months, with the possibility of extension for an additional three months.

The House of Representatives should also consider the report of the Collegium Committee on efforts to reach an agreement on the request of MP Denis Bećirović to consider the Bill on Amendments to the Law on the Flag of BiH under an urgent procedure.

Given that the Collegium did not reach an agreement, the representatives will vote on the mentioned request in the second round of voting.

The essence of the proposed amendments is to replace the words "joint institutions" with the words "institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina" in the Law on the Flag of BiH.

The justification of the proposed law states that this is an unconstitutional and legally incorrect formulation, as the Constitution of BiH does not recognize the term "joint institutions," but only "institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.".

The Constitutional Court of BiH recently, deciding on the request of Denis Bećirović for an assessment of the constitutionality of Article 5, Paragraph 1, Point a) of the Law on the Flag of BiH, determined that the mentioned article in the part that reads: "joint institutions or institutions managed by joint institutions or responsible to joint institutions" is not in accordance with the Constitution of BiH.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the state parliament, Denis Bećirović, stated at the time that this was an extremely important decision, because those who used the term 'joint institutions' wanted to prejudge that the state of BiH is actually a composite or constituent state of the entities and Brčko District, which is in complete contradiction with the Constitution of BiH.

According to him, all those who have used the unconstitutional term 'joint institutions' should immediately stop doing so after this decision.

The House of Representatives should also consider several reports and information, and give consent for the ratification of a number of agreements and contracts.