Adoption of BiH institutions' budget 'on a long leash' due to amendment phase

(Patria) - The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly will consider the Bill on the Budget of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2025 on October 30th, but in the first reading.

This means that, if adopted, the ten-day period for submitting amendments would only begin to run. Then, the committees would review the amendments again, and it would go to the House for a vote.

The second issue is that an identical text of the Budget Bill must also be adopted by the House of Peoples of the BiH PA, and it is possible that the delegates may also have their amendments, as was the case in 2020, for example, in which case the House of Representatives would have to convene again.

The head of the SDA Club in the House of Representatives of the BiH PA, Šerif Špago, believes that the budget adoption can only be expected in November.

"However, I am not optimistic given that there is no agreement within the parliamentary majority regarding the budget. On one side, the Trojka, and on the other, HDZ and SNSD are 'flexing their muscles' at each other, they are not meeting, talking, or agreeing. There is an option to talk with the opposition from Republika Srpska, but even that has not been seriously considered," Špago said.

The main problem for the adoption of the Budget is the votes from Republika Srpska. SNSD has rejected the proposed budget, although the presidents of HDZ and SNSD, Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik, announced a possible "correction" of the budget at a joint press conference.

According to Patria's information, there are no amendments for now, nor have any commissions received anything.

Although there is a theoretical possibility for amendments to be considered on the same day, it is unlikely to happen.