WHAT THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DID TODAY: Budget, border opening next week...

(Patria) - During next week, a stance should be agreed upon for the entry of citizens from neighboring countries into BiH, and this will be the first step towards opening borders. This was concluded at the session of the Council of Ministers of BiH, confirmed the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zoran Tegeltija. Based on what he said, it is evident that no agreement or final solution was reached on all important issues.

As he pointed out, they are awaiting the opinion of experts, and healthcare will decide on the conditions for entry into BiH.

"But as things stand, this entry will be quite rigorous," Tegeltija stated.

Speaking about the Draft Budget for financing BiH institutions for 2020, Tegeltija said that the budget is currently in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH.

"The moment the Council of Ministers adopts it, we will send it into procedure to the Presidency of BiH. It will be at the session of the Council of Ministers of BiH next week, and we will deliver it to the Presidency of BiH within the deadline, and they to the Parliamentary Assembly," said Tegeltija.

When asked if the director of SIPA has been appointed, Tegeltija replied that all personnel solutions related to the completion of the director appointment process have not been finalized.

"There was no willingness from Bosniak representatives to vote for these decisions. Therefore, neither the director of SIPA, nor the directors of RAK, the Official Gazette, the Agency for Education of Police Cadres... have been appointed. We have only appointed acting directors of certain institutions for a mandate period of three months until the completion of the tender procedure, as the mandates of these individuals have expired," Tegeltija explained.

The necessary decision on the distribution of funds from the IMF, 641 million KM which were deposited into the account of the Central Bank of BiH almost a month ago, was not made at today's session of the Council of Ministers of BiH either.

Although after yesterday's meetings, the main actors, the presidents of SDA, HDZ BiH, and SNSD, Bakir Izetbegović, Dragan Čović, and Milorad Dodik, emphasized that an agreement in the Council of Ministers is needed to distribute the funds, the statement from the Chairman of the Council of Ministers today was completely opposite.

"The Council of Ministers does not need to consider the distribution of IMF funds, and the Council of Ministers has completed everything that was necessary in relation to this," said Tegeltija.

However, Tegeltija is contradicted by the Decision he signed on April 23, which was published in the Official Gazette number 26/20.

Article 2 of the Decision states that IMF funds will be withdrawn based on the Promissory Note by a special decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH in accordance with the signed Letter of Intent.