Miners demand subsidy from BiH Government, possible electricity price increase due to this

Miners from seven mines in the Federation of BiH today demanded that the FBiH Government urgently introduce a subsidy for mining work, which would finance mine modernization and improvement of working conditions in the mines, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

Seven mines in FBiH operating within the consortium of Elektroprivreda BiH recorded a loss of approximately 84 million KM in 2014.

The president of the Independent Miners' Union of FBiH, Sinan Husić, said that all mines in Europe have subsidies for their work, but not the mines in FBiH. Miners also demanded recapitalization of the mines.

When asked by journalists where the mines would be subsidized from, the Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry, Reuf Bajrović, said that all options are open, from reducing certain costs in the mines to increasing electricity prices.

Representatives of the Independent Miners' Union of FBiH, the Union of Independent Trade Unions of BiH, Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Reuf Bajrović, and the General Director of JP Elektroprivreda, Elvedin Grabovica, attended the meeting in the FBiH Government building in Sarajevo today.

Prime Minister Novalić said that today's meeting was very constructive, and expressed hope that the problems within the mines will soon be overcome.

The next meeting between the miners and the BiH Government will be held by the end of June or the beginning of July this year at the latest, writes Patria.