Council of Ministers to consider 27 bylaws on internal organization: New hires in BiH ministries and institutions!

(Patria) - The agenda for tomorrow's session of the BiH Council of Ministers includes 50 items, but only the item on Reports on the Work of BiH Council of Ministers Institutions for 2025 has 49 reports.

The final agenda is determined by the Collegium before the session itself. Given that Zukan Helez is officially absent this week as he is in the USA, he will likely be replaced by the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković, who will thus shape the final agenda with the Chairwoman of the BiH Council of Ministers Borjana Krišto and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Staša Košarac.

Although it is evident that the coalition at the state level has not been functioning for a long time, a topic that Konaković himself discussed on BHRT on Friday, the agenda nevertheless shows that in this case too, the saying "everything is temporary, only interest is eternal" holds true.

Thus, the planned agenda includes as many as 27 items proposing amendments and supplements to the Bylaws on the Internal Organization of BiH Institutions. Among them is not the Bylaw on the Systematization of the Central Election Commission (CEC), which has been pending for months, while the General Elections are approaching.

These include bylaws for five ministries (Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Refugees, Security, and Transport and Communications). The agenda also includes amendments to the Bylaws on the Internal Organization of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), BHANSA, the Civil Service Agency of BiH, the Archives of BiH, the Agency for Statistics of BiH, the BiH Ombudsman's Office...

Amendments to these bylaws will enable additional hiring within BiH institutions, and it should not be forgotten that it is an election year. This is because the bylaws are certainly not being adopted to reassign existing employees, but to create new leadership positions and increase the number of employees.

As many as 2,130 people, including police agencies, were hired in BiH institutions in the period 2023-2025, according to an analysis of data from 67 institutions. The number is certainly higher, but some institutions have never provided the requested data. During this period, the largest number of hires were in the Indirect Taxation Authority (376), the BiH Ministry of Defence (246), the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs (106), and the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury (103).

And everything indicates that the hiring of personnel will continue. This will be known after tomorrow's session of the BiH Council of Ministers.

Under confidential items on the agenda are the Proposal for Amendments and Supplements to the Bylaws on the Internal Organization of the Intelligence-Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSA) and the Proposal for Amendments and Supplements to the Bylaws on the Internal Organization of the Institution for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures of Bosnia and Herzegovina (prison in Vojkovići).

Earlier warnings were issued about the plan of the Civil Service Agency of BiH, headed by Anita Markić (HDZ), to establish new offices in Mostar, Banja Luka, and Tuzla and increase the number of employees by one-third. This would effectively divide the Agency into three parts, with the offices in Mostar and Banja Luka under the direct control of HDZ and SNSD, as we already have examples with the offices of the ITA or RAK.

It should be recalled that BiH institutions are on temporary financing, but already today, SNSD, from which Finance Minister Srđan Amidžić comes, called for the urgent adoption of the Budget for 2026.