Council of Ministers and PS BiH realized only 4 percent of planned laws in half a year

The first half of 2017 was marked by the informal collapse of the ruling coalition, which, in addition to public clashes between its leaders (which have all the hallmarks of a premature, fierce election campaign), manifested in the dysfunctional and poor results of the government at the state level, showed a report by the Center for Civil Initiatives, reports the Patria agency.

The Council of Ministers, even on the second attempt, failed to push through a package of laws concerning the Law on Excise Taxes through Parliament, which was a prerequisite for continuing the arrangement with the IMF. Given the dependence of BiH authorities on loans, this is perhaps the best illustration of the absence of both a ruling majority and a policy of compromise in the country.

There was also a renewed stagnation in the EU integration process. Ambitious deadlines for answering questions from the European Commission's Questionnaire collapsed due to usual obstructions and the inability to effectively resolve some trivial technical issues.

The second half of the year began with the country being shamed on the international stage again. Due to internal conflicts and insistence on narrow party interests and projects, BiH was the only one not to sign the Treaty on the accession to the Transport Community at the Western Balkans Summit in Trieste. If it does not do so by the end of September, projects worth approximately half a billion convertible marks will be halted. Furthermore, the Report on the Work of the Council of Ministers for 2016 was not adopted in the PS BiH. This again saw a situation so characteristic of BiH politics – ruling parties acting simultaneously as both the government and the opposition, i.e., criticizing and demanding the dismissal of the government in which they themselves participate and from which they show no intention of leaving.

The Council of Ministers of BiH had the lowest intensity of work in the current mandate in the first half of 2017. It held only 19 regular sessions (which is below the prescribed number in the Rules of Procedure) and 7 extraordinary sessions.

Certain, but not dramatic, fluctuations are observed in the work of the Council of Ministers in the current mandate. After a drop (from 778 to 708 measures considered) in the second half of 2016, which halted the continuous growth in the productivity of the Council of Ministers, productivity increased again on a semi-annual basis in this mandate, and the number of measures considered rose to 750 in the first half of 2017.

The biggest problem in the work of the Council of Ministers in the first half of 2017 lies in the implementation of the most significant measures and activities. In the observed period, the Council of Ministers dealt mostly with various reports, information, and plans and programs, which account for 41% of all measures considered. Decisions, approvals, conclusions, and resolutions represent a further 32%. 8.4% represent answers to parliamentary questions and initiatives. However, laws constitute only 2% of the total measures considered. And strategies 0.4%.

The most dramatic consequence of the dysfunctionality of the state-level government is reflected in the low implementation of laws. Since the Council of Ministers established 26 laws in the second half of 2015, the implementation has fallen so much that only the same number has been established in the following year and a half. In the first half of 2017, only 8 laws were established in total, not counting the double adoption of a set of 4 laws, including the Law on Excise Taxes, as part of a procedural game aimed at pushing them through Parliament at all costs.

At the current rate of efficiency, the Council of Ministers would need an entire four-year mandate to implement the laws from just one annual work program. Namely, out of 42 laws planned for implementation in 2017 according to the Work Program, only 5 were realized in the first 6 months. Thus, the second half of the year began with as many as 37 unrealized laws.

Among the unrealized laws is the law on foreign affairs. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region that does not have this law, although the need for its adoption is continuously pointed out by CCI's audit and monitoring reports.

Due to constant resistance from Republika Srpska, a whole series of necessary strategies have not been adopted for years, even though their non-adoption leads to international sanctions, including the loss of hundreds of millions of euros from EU pre-accession funds. Although activities related to fulfilling our country's obligations towards the Energy Community have significantly intensified recently, BiH still lacks an Energy Strategy at the state level, nor a state law on gas, which were supposed to be adopted first by the end of 2014, and then by the end of March 2017. Due to the latest violations of agreements, it risks renewed sanctions and the suspension of already approved financial support for BiH by the EU Energy Community.

The BiH Development Strategy and the Social Inclusion Strategy have not yet been established, although 7 years have passed since the creation of the latter, and they applied to the period up to 2014. Due to the lack of rural development and agricultural strategies, the country has already lost significant funds from IPA funds intended for agricultural development in previous years, and if the internal situation does not change, it will lose even more. However...

In the first half of 2017, the Council of Ministers established 3 strategies. Among them is the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy of BiH, which is one of the obligations from the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Reform Agenda. Let us recall that the number of established strategies in the first two years of the current mandate was already higher than the total four-year result in the previous mandate.

The Work Program of the Council of Ministers envisages the establishment of 4 more significant strategies by the end of the year. Among these, we particularly highlight the employment strategy, the strategy on cooperation with the diaspora, and the strategy for combating discrimination in BiH. It is interesting that the strategy for combating discrimination is to be adopted by institutions that themselves practice discrimination – the Council of Ministers of BiH on a gender basis, and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH on a national basis.

Let us recall that the Council of Ministers of BiH violates the Law on Gender Equality, which stipulates that the minimum representation of one gender in the institution's composition is 40%, and the PS BiH continues to violate the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, and there is still no place for representatives of the so-called "Others" in the House of Peoples of the PS BiH.

The Council of Ministers of BiH was first late in adopting the strategy for justice sector reform in BiH, and then even more so in adopting the action plan for its implementation. The strategy, which applies to the period 2014-2018, was established on 09/08/2015, and the Action Plan only on 03/15/2017, i.e., approximately 1.5 years before the deadline for the implementation of the mentioned Strategy.

The implementation of activities planned in the reform agenda action plan at the state level has slowed down. Out of 34 general measures in the Action Plan, which are under the jurisdiction of the Council of Ministers of BiH, as of March 14, 2017, 18 or 53% have been fully adopted, with continuous work on another 7 measures, the implementation of which began in the past two years.

Instead of being established by the end of 2016, the Work Program of the Council of Ministers for 2017 was established in February 2017. And the draft Budget for 2017 was established by the Council of Ministers on November 3, 2016, instead of by October 15 at the latest, thus preventing the Presidency of BiH from fulfilling its obligation in this context in a timely manner.

In the first half of 2017 (mid-June), the Council of Ministers adopted the medium-term work program of the Council of Ministers for the period 2018-2020. This ensured the prerequisites for quality development management, in accordance with the responsibilities of the Council of Ministers of BiH. The medium-term work program of the Council of Ministers of BiH represents the basis for preparing the Framework Budget Document and medium-term work plans of BiH institutions. Only if the Council of Ministers begins to fulfill its planned obligations at a satisfactory level will this measure have its full meaning and positive effects. Otherwise, all plans will remain dead letters on paper.

The transparency of the work of the Council of Ministers of BiH is continuously at a satisfactory level. The positive picture is marred only by the non-implementation of public debate during the adoption of the budget and the existence of possibilities for so-called "discretionary" spending of budget money from the so-called current reserve by the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, as well as for members of the Presidency of BiH, which CCI assesses as an unacceptable practice, stating that it is unacceptable for budget funds to be spent without clear and transparent criteria, and that for every expenditure of budget money, the institution should make the decision, not an individual.

The intensity of work of the PS BiH in the first half of 2017 maintained the low level from the previous, second half of 2016, when there was a significant drop in the intensity of work up to that point. 8 regular sessions of the House of Representatives and 5 of the House of Peoples were held, along with one emergency session of the House of Representatives.

General productivity does not show significant fluctuations. In the observed period, 217 measures were considered in the House of Representatives and 131 in the House of Peoples. This is more or less at the average level for the current mandate so far. And, summarily, the result achieved so far in the current mandate is at the level of productivity shown in the first two and a half years of the previous mandate.

The key problem, where the dysfunctionality of the government and the absence of a ruling majority are dramatically felt, is the extremely low implementation of laws. In the first 6 months of 2017, only 2 laws were adopted, which is 6 and a half times less than in the previous, second half of 2016. And both adopted laws are only amendments to existing legal acts.

In the observed period, the problem of the unfavorable ratio of adopted and rejected laws, for which PS BiH is unique in the world, culminated. PS BiH is known for an extremely small number of adopted laws, and an identical, and sometimes even higher, number of rejected laws. But the result in the first half of 2017 is truly devastating and a surprise even for PS BiH. Namely, in the observed period, 2 laws were adopted, and 7 were rejected, or 3.5 times more than the number adopted. This makes the achieved result the worst in the last 11 years.

The work programs of the houses of the PS BiH envisage the realization of about 50 laws this year. This means that in half a year, only 4(!)% of the plan was realized. Or, at this pace, it would take more than 3 four-year mandates to realize the legislative part of the work program for just 1 year.

PS BiH, with its current approach, further devalues the already modest results of the Council of Ministers. In the first 6 months of 2017, not a single(!) of the 8 laws established by the Council of Ministers in this period was adopted. And 4 were rejected. Two laws adopted in the observed period are laws that the Council of Ministers established back in 2015.

Both houses of the PS BiH were seriously late in adopting their orientation work plans for 2017. Instead of by the end of 2016, both plans were adopted in March 2017.

The budget for 2017 was adopted on time. The delay of the Council of Ministers, which also caused the delay of the Presidency of BiH in fulfilling its obligations within the prescribed deadlines, did not lead to a delay for the PS BiH – both houses adopted the Budget by December 15, 2016.

The total income of deputies and delegates of both houses of the PS BiH, considering that all members of the PS BiH receive a parliamentary allowance regardless of their employment status, along with compensation for accommodation, separate living, work in "ad-hoc" commissions, transportation to work, and warm meals, still ranges from 4,800 to 6,500 KM. And it is among the highest in the region.

Concrete activities have begun within the PS BiH to create the conditions for drafting a law on examining the origin of assets of officials in BiH institutions. The House of Peoples of the PS BiH, at its 28th session held on May 4, 2017, adopted a Conclusion on forming an Interdepartmental Working Group for drafting this law, and the proposal of this Conclusion has already been included in the agenda of the 51st session of the House of Representatives, which will be held on September 7, 2017.

If this Interdepartmental Working Group is formed (and we hope it will be), its task will be to prepare the said law within six months of the entry into force of this Conclusion, and if necessary, amendments to existing laws at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the part related to the fight against corruption, and to submit a concrete proposal, through authorized proposers, to the parliamentary procedure.

The "Program for the Integration of BiH into the EU" has still not been adopted. After the adoption of the "coordination mechanism" for the European integration of BiH, the key prerequisite for the final adoption of this program has been met. This program represents a strategic, i.e., planning document for BiH's accession to the European Union, which should provide an overview of all BiH's obligations, the dynamics of their implementation, the plan for fulfilling the criteria for BiH's membership in the EU, the plan for harmonizing domestic legislation with EU legislation, as well as an estimate of the costs of implementing this program.

One of the most positive aspects of the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH remains the high activity of deputies in proposing legal solutions. Of the 36 laws that were in parliamentary procedure in the first half of 2017, almost half (17) were proposed by deputies and delegates of the PS BiH.

- Certainly, the most positive segment of the work of the BiH Parliament is its transparency, which can serve as an excellent example for all other government institutions within BiH, and even beyond. In recent years, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has reached a very respectable level in terms of the transparency of its work, which was further improved at the end of last year by redesigning the official website of this institution.

On the other hand, systemic discrimination of BiH citizens and violation of international laws by BiH institutions continue. The House of Peoples of the PS BiH continues to function without representatives of the "others" in its composition, and there is no agreement on how to implement the judgment of the Court in Strasbourg in the context of electing members of the Presidency. On the contrary, the narrative is moving in the completely opposite direction of the judgment's intention. Instead of individual rights, a political war is being waged over collective rights.

We remind you that we live in a country where government institutions do not respect laws and the Constitution or decisions of constitutional courts. According to data from the end of 2016, there were 13 unfulfilled decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, 5 of which related to requests for constitutionality assessment and eight from the appellate jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court. Unfulfilled decisions of the Constitutional Court made on the basis of requests for constitutionality assessment relate to the obligations of legislative bodies: the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1), and the National Assembly/Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska (1).

An attempt should be made to reach a political compromise that will enable the creation of a parliamentary majority capable of ensuring the normal functioning of institutions and the continuation of reforms and Euro-Atlantic integration. The current situation, best illustrated by the 4% realization of the annual plan in 6 months and 3.5 times more rejected than adopted laws, is completely unacceptable.

It is equally unacceptable for the current agony to be prolonged until the next elections and for us to lose another year, year and a half of our lives waiting and watching election campaigns, concludes CCI.