Alliance for Changes Conditions BiH Budget with Ljubovija-Bratunac Bridge

The session of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament was not held today due to a lack of quorum, writes Patria.

On the agenda of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee session, among other things, is the Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2017. However, today in the BiH Parliament, the information that MPs from the Alliance for Changes will not support the Budget until the construction of the Ljubovija – Bratunac bridge is precisely indicated in the capital expenditures, 'resonated'.

Mladen Ivanić, Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, is also aware of this information.

- I am aware that MPs from the Alliance for Changes have objections to the Budget because of the bridge in Bratunac. They are seeking guarantees that it will be built. It is planned in some item of capital investments, but there is no guarantee that those who are supposed to realize it and direct funds to its construction will do so – Ivanić said.

Committee Chairman Damir Arnaut told reporters that Šefik Džaferović, Nikola Lovrinović, and he, during a break given to try and secure a quorum, spoke by phone with Committee member Borjana Krišto.

- We were informed that there are certain requests from the Alliance for Changes to include funds for a border crossing in the budget proposal. I think it is about the border crossing in Bratunac – Arnaut said.

According to him, this will be on the agenda of the BiH Council of Ministers session today.

- We were informed that, if this is included, then there will be no problems with the quorum and voting. Therefore, we have an obstruction of the legislative and legal process here – Arnaut stated.

He says this is incomprehensible considering that it concerns the constitutional basis, and that 'the constitutional basis for the BiH budget has never been questioned, because the BiH Constitution states that the Parliamentary Assembly adopts the budget'.