RASHTIMANI ORCHESTRA Two proposals for amendments to the Law on Police Officers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the Troika, without union consent

(Patria) - On Friday, February 13, a session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held, with several legal solutions on the agenda.

According to the agenda, representatives should consider seven legal solutions, most of which are amendments and supplements to existing laws, while the only new one is the Proposal for the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, submitted in the second reading by Darko Babalj, Branislav Borenović, Mira Pekić, Nenad Grković, and Mladen Bosić.

Thus, at this session, the Proposal for the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Police Officers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose proposers are MPs Nihad Omerović (NIP), Jasmin Imamović (SDP), and Predrag Kojović (NS) in the first reading, which was withdrawn from the previous session, should be reconsidered.

On the other hand, delegate Kemal Ademović (NIP) also submitted amendments to the Law on Police Officers to the parliamentary procedure. His proposal is a surprise even to police unions, and just as they were not consulted in the proposal of the three Troika MPs, the same case applies to Ademović's proposal. At the last session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH on January 29, Ademović requested an addition to the agenda and the inclusion of this legal solution. Given that the session was interrupted due to a lack of quorum, the agenda was not voted on. However, Ademović has now submitted his proposal to both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

Thus, there are now two laws in the procedure from proposers belonging to the same group (the Troika), which forms the government at the state level, but with different texts and without union consent.

The proposal of the Troika and Ademović differs in several segments. While the Troika MPs proposed that police officers can remain in employment until the age of 60, with the decision made by the head of the police authority, Ademović proposed that this be until the age of 59. Ademović's proposal would apply until December 31, 2028, after which it ceases to be valid, and the proposers of the proposal in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH stated the same. Although unions very clearly warned that police officers cannot effectively perform the job of a police officer at those ages, and proposed that the upper limit be 55 years, this was not taken into account.

Both the Troika MPs and Ademović present data on the retirement of several hundred police officers in three state agencies, which will cause problems in the functioning of police agencies, especially the Border Police of BiH, which has been facing a deficit of necessary personnel for years.

Although the story about this law has been ongoing for the third month, it is interesting that the directors of SIPA, the Indirect Taxation Authority, and the Border Police of BiH are not speaking out, only the unions. SIPA has spoken out only once, stating that it is not good to pass laws without consultations with police agencies, while the Indirect Taxation Authority and the Border Police of BiH remain silent.

These three police agencies employ about 3,500 people, mostly police officers, so it is presumably only fair that they have a say when decisions are being made about their labor and legal status.