BHRT Union to MPs and Delegates: You Should Not Allow This Budget Proposal to Pass Parliamentary Procedure

(Patria) - The Independent Union of BHRT Workers today sent an appeal and request to the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliament of BiH, after the Presidency of BiH adopted the Draft Budget of Institutions and International Obligations of BiH, which does not include items that were intended to provide financial assistance to cultural institutions and BHRT.

"Members of the Independent Union of BHRT Workers, following the news that the Presidency of BiH supported the 2025 budget without assistance for BHRT and seven state cultural institutions, deeply disappointed and shocked, we address the MPs and delegates of both houses of the state Parliament.

You, as the founders of the Public Service of BiH, should not allow this proposal to pass parliamentary procedure, knowing the difficult situation BHRT is in, because you have been warned for months about its severe and hopeless position.

We, as the representative union with nearly 400 BHRT employees and their families, as well as all 780 workers in the Public Service of BiH, are not interested in pre-election rhetoric and empty promises. Move from words to deeds.

It seems to us, unfortunately, as if from the highest level, consciously, deliberately and systematically, efforts are being made to shut down the Radio Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina and seven state cultural institutions.

You are elected representatives of the people and citizens of BiH, and as such, it is your duty, before deciding to support the proposed state budget for 2025, to think about what message you will send to the BiH public and what legacy you will leave to your children, grandchildren and generations to come.

The Public Service of BiH is one of the 14 conditions for our country's European path, but also a symbol of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and therefore a way must be found for its stable and secure functioning.

You have the authority to refuse an urgent adoption procedure and to act through amendments, as before. Also, each of you is individually authorized to propose laws, but you are also the founders of the Public RTV Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, as such, responsible for its functioning.

The Independent Union of BHRT Workers has been warning for several years about the difficult and unsustainable situation of the Public Service of BiH. Therefore, today, when the basic existence of our workers is threatened, we demand from the founders, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, to convene as soon as possible an urgent joint session of both houses with only one item on the agenda - the current situation in BHRT.

You know, it is shameful that aid to BHRT was removed from this year's budget, but the status of BHRT is a state issue - because the public service of BiH is equal to Bosnia and Herzegovina," states the appeal and request of the Independent Union of BHRT Workers, signed by President Merima Kurtović-Pašalić.