Council of Ministers of BiH: Adjust the 2025 budget and plan funds for the execution of the 'Viaduct' case ruling

(Patria) - The 76th session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina was held today in Sarajevo.

Adjust the budget

The Council of Ministers of BiH was informed about the holding of an extraordinary session of the Fiscal Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Chairperson Borjana Krišto.

In order to prevent further damage to the property interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions, taking into account the provisions of the Law on Financing of BiH Institutions and the Information from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH from the 53rd extraordinary session, the Council of Ministers of BiH has instructed the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to urgently prepare and submit to the Council of Ministers of BiH by the next session (April 22, 2005) a corrected text of the Draft Law on the Budget of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations of BiH for 2025, which will, without increasing the financing framework for BiH institutions, plan funds for the execution of the ICSID Tribunal's arbitration award in the amount of 110 million KM.

These corrections will not include changes to budget items related to salaries and employee benefits, material costs, and net expenditures for financial assets if they would affect the financing of BiH institutions.

The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted these conclusions in order to urgently proceed with the execution of the arbitration award in which Bosnia and Herzegovina is the enforcer, thereby creating conditions for initiating a recourse action and ultimately recovering damages from Rs.

At the same time, the Ministry of Communications and Transport was tasked with submitting to the Council of Ministers of BiH by the next session a proposal for a decision on the temporary financing of the costs of the Air Navigation Services Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHANSA), with the aim of enabling its unimpeded operation and resolving business issues.

Problems for BHANSA arose due to enforcement proceedings, which are a consequence of the claimant's dispute with the Government of Republika Srpska, which failed to settle its obligations despite a previously signed agreement with the Council of Ministers of BiH, by which it undertook to unconditionally fulfill all its payment obligations according to the ruling made in this arbitration procedure on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, upon receipt of a documented request from the BiH Legal Counsel.

Revised Strategy

The Council of Ministers of BiH, at the proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, adopted the Decision on the adoption of the revised Mine Action Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2025-2027 in its new text.

The strategy was prepared in cooperation, among others, with competent authorities at the entity level, namely the Federal Civil Protection Administration, the Republican Civil Protection Administration, the Red Cross of Republika Srpska, and the Red Cross of the Federation of BiH.

The goal of the revised document is to create a plan of activities and define the steps to be taken within the approved deadline for fulfilling obligations in the most efficient and effective manner, in order to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to the goal of fulfilling its obligations regarding survey and clearance according to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.

While expressing gratitude to all donors who have generously supported the mine action program in BiH for years, our country continues to face a major problem with mines.

According to estimates made in January 2024, the suspected hazardous area for mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts to 838 km², which represents 1.63% of the total area of the country.

We remind that Bosnia and Herzegovina previously committed to destroy or ensure the destruction of all anti-personnel mines in mined areas by March 2027.

The Mine Clearance Commission and the Mine Action Centre in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHMAC) are obliged, in case the demining process in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not completed, to take all necessary activities in a timely manner to prepare and submit a new request for an extension of the demining deadline in BiH, with a prior detailed analysis of all circumstances affecting the mine action process, which will show for what period the new extension needs to be requested.

Internal Policy and Economy Committees

At the proposal of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH, individual decisions were made to amend the decisions on the appointment of the chairperson, deputy chairperson, and members of the Internal Policy Committee and the Economy Committee of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

The amendments to the decisions regulate the practice of mutual substitution of the chairperson and deputy chairperson at the sessions of the Internal Policy and Economy Committees, and in exceptional cases, it is defined that the sessions of these permanent bodies can be chaired by deputy ministers who chair the committees, with written authorization, if the chairperson and their deputy are unavoidably prevented from attending the sessions.

This aims to ensure the functional and continuous operation of these permanent bodies of the Council of Ministers of BiH, whose task is to review materials before the sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH within the previously defined competencies.

Implementation of Conclusions

The session reviewed the Overview of the implementation of the conclusions of the Council of Ministers of BiH for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024, prepared by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH, and the importance of timely and consistent implementation of the conclusions was emphasized.

This overview covers 58 sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH held last year, including 32 regular and 26 extraordinary sessions, at which 637 conclusions were adopted, of which 578 (91%) were implemented, while 54 conclusions were not implemented. The overview covers a total of 43 institutions of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

Appropriate conclusions were adopted at the session to raise the level of fulfillment of all conclusions in their entirety, and appropriate tasks were assigned to the institutions of the Council of Ministers of BiH whose level of conclusion fulfillment is less than 90%.

Regulation on Animal Feed

The Council of Ministers of BiH did not reach a consensus in two rounds of voting to adopt the regulation amending the Regulation on Undesirable Substances in Animal Feed marked 'EI'.

Money from the Budget Reserve

The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the Information on the allocation and use of current reserve funds for 2024, which the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will submit to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

According to the Information, out of the planned 4,236,000 KM of current reserve funds in 2024, a total of 4,203,500 KM was approved, of which 4,200,261.61 KM was realized.

The Council of Ministers of BiH disbursed 2,056,761.61 KM out of the approved 2,060,000 KM, of which a total of two million KM was approved through the Ministry of Security to municipalities affected by floods (1,000,000 KM) and to the Federal Civil Protection Administration of BiH and the Republican Civil Protection Administration of Republika Srpska (1,000,000 KM) for the procurement of firefighting equipment in BiH.

Approval for Appointment

The Council of Ministers of BiH, at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, granted individual approvals for the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Воquien to the position of Attaché for Internal Security of the French Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colonel Mahmoud Mohaghier Pour to the position of Defense Attaché of the Islamic Republic of Iran in BiH, and Brigadier Christian Hahn to the position of Defense Attaché of the Republic of Austria in Bosnia and Herzegovina.