House of Representatives of FBiH discusses veterans' law, parliamentary hall half-empty

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The SDP club believes that the conditions have not been met to rebalance the budget at today's extraordinary session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH.

"The FBiH Government has no work plan, nor does the FBiH Parliament. We also have no capital investments. She asked why funds for the law on veterans' rights were not planned in the Budget, when it was known that this law would be passed," said SDP club representative Jasmina Zubić.

SDP representative Lana Prlić submitted an amendment to the rebalance proposal, by which the FBiH Government would allocate one million KM for the remediation of the "Uborak" landfill under current transfers in the budget.

"The Uborak landfill requires a remediation and relocation plan because it is located 50 meters from the settlement, directly endangering the health of the population. The funds would be provided through the Ministry of Tourism and Environment," the explanation of the amendment states, among other things.

After a series of amendments and warnings that the budget would have to be rebalanced again, the discussion on the rebalance of the budget and the law on budget execution was concluded.

The Federal Minister for Veterans and Disabled Veterans' Affairs of FBiH, Salko Bukvarević, explained the Bill on the Rights of Veterans and their Families.

"We opted for a realistic and implementable law, which will be improved in the future. We proposed that the Federation solve the issue of our demobilized veterans in this way. We have consolidated 16 rights, including rights to early retirement, subsidies, healthcare, and other rights," said Bukvarević.

The law will also establish a register of membership in the Army of BiH, HVO, and police, who was in combat and who was in a logistical area.

After the explanation, the discussion on this bill began.

The president of the PDA club, Elzina Pirić, said that the law that was supposed to solve the issues of all veterans has led to the presence of veterans in the FBiH Parliament who are against it and those who are for it.

"First, we should have done a review of veterans, and with this law, we are discriminating and dividing them into municipal, cantonal, and a small group of three percent of veterans that the FBiH has taken for itself. Shouldn't this country and we as parliamentarians and the FBiH Government value the participation of underage veterans and the families of martyrs and disabled veterans?" Pirić said.

She also asked if Parliament should put paraplegics in the second row.

She added that this is an unconstitutional law and that it violates the law on budgets.

Sabahudin Ramić, president of the Coordination of Veterans' Associations, said that he sees no problem with cantons and municipalities taking their share in implementing the law.
He asked the representatives to refrain from politics and for the law on veterans' rights to see the light of day.

Representative Irfan Čengić submitted 10 amendments and said that he will support this law only because the veterans supported it.

"This law is unconstitutional because it discriminates against certain categories and because there are many illogicalities," said Čengić.

He added that "members of the aggressor RS army have a veteran's allowance, while with this law, members of the Army of BiH and HVO will be left without that right."

Apparently, most representatives were not interested in the discussion about the law on veterans' rights, so the FBiH Parliament hall was quite empty at times, with only 10 representatives conducting the discussion.

At those moments, about a third of the representatives were in the hall.