Council of Ministers of BiH Hides Documents: State Representatives Struggle to Obtain Information, Minutes Published with Delay

(Patria) - State Representative Šemsudin Mehmedović has submitted an initiative demanding transparency in the work of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This initiative, if adopted in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, would require the Council of Ministers of BiH to publish in a timely manner on the Council of Ministers website all documents related to sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH (except those documents classified as "confidential").

As Mehmedović states in the initiative, session materials are inaccessible to the public, and the Council of Ministers of BiH deliberately and continuously hides the most important documents and information in its possession, which is contrary to relevant state laws, e.g., Article 6 of the Law on Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which stipulates: "The work of administrative bodies is accessible to the public. The public nature of the work of administrative bodies may be limited or excluded only in cases determined by law."

For example, the Council of Ministers of BiH held a session on July 22, and part of the agenda items related to appointments in several state institutions were removed from the agenda, but the public was not informed about this by the Council of Ministers of BiH; instead, the media obtained this information from one minister.

In his initiative, Mehmedović also problematizes this.

"What really happened at the 85th session, regarding the most important items from 53 to 57, the public was not officially informed via the website of the Council of Ministers of BiH, but was informed by the media, whose journalists obtained information in various ways. This is a clear example of disrespect for the legal principle of transparency and public nature of the work of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

On the website of the Council of Ministers of BiH, minutes from sessions are published subsequently, and the last available one was published on July 9 from the session held on June 27. Since then until today, there have been five more sessions, but no minutes are yet available.

State representatives are not in a better position compared to the media and citizens, and they are often denied the opportunity to obtain necessary information or materials in a timely manner.

"The Secretary General of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Robert Vidović, instead of helping a state representative prepare for a public appearance and delivering the requested document on Monday, procrastinated for five working days and informed the representative on Friday afternoon that it was necessary to submit a request for free access to information! If a state representative receives such treatment, how can an ordinary citizen obtain information?" asks Mehmedović.

Given his long parliamentary experience, Mehmedović emphasizes that the situation regarding transparency and openness of work has even worsened.

"The Council of Ministers of BiH persistently hides information about who has five official vehicles at their disposal 24 hours a day, for the purchase of which in 2023 more than half a million KM of budget money was allocated, more precisely 530,000 KM, even though I requested information on this more than a year ago through a parliamentary question. To this day, 15 months after asking the question, I have not received an answer.

For two years now, there has been talk about the Growth Plan, problems related to the preparation of relevant documents in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and missed millions of euros from the Instrument for Reform and Growth for the Western Balkans. Who has seen the Reform Agenda with the List of Reforms, which was submitted to the European Commission? This document has not been officially published, nor has the public been officially informed of its details, nor have institutions that should have been informed, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose basic competence is to conduct parliamentary oversight over the work of executive institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Reform Agenda of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the List of Reforms is another example of the non-transparent work of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina," states Mehmedović.

Thanks to publications in the Official Gazette of BiH, the media can see certain appointments, but not how each person voted on a decision or appointment. For this reason, it is necessary to publish minutes as quickly as possible, but they clearly do not follow the pace of held sessions.

Minutes are published only after they are adopted at sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH, and the media cannot attend sessions to at least have information about what happens at the session itself.

However, it seems no one yet has the courage for that kind of transparency.