VKBI warns of lack of support for Bosniak capital projects, appeals to Government to ensure it through budget reallocation

(Patria) - A delegation of the Council of Bosniak Intellectuals (VKBI) held meetings in December 2024 with ministers in the FBiH Government Nerina Dizdar and Adnan Delić, as well as with the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zukan Helez.

Meetings were also held with Bosniak delegates in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament, Kemal Ademović, Šefik Džaferović, Safet Softić, and Dženan Đonlagić.

The VKBI delegation presented them with their plan and program for 2025, along with a detailed financial plan.

During the meetings, the VKBI leadership presented officials with capital projects related to the fundamental identity issues of Bosniaks, who constitute 70.4% of the population in FBiH according to the last census.

Particular emphasis was placed on projects such as the continuation of the multi-volume Dictionary of the Bosnian Language – the foundation of Bosniak identity, the first institutional gathering of relevant Bosniak councils from the region – the Parent Society of Bosniak Councils, publishing projects related to the history of Bosnia and Bosniaks, as well as a number of other programs and projects that VKBI has been involved with for over 32 years.

VKBI represents the largest civil society organization of Bosniak origin in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with over 200 members, of whom almost 90% hold titles of academician, full and associate professor, emeritus, docent, and Master of Science.

The intention and request of VKBI was for VKBI's projects and programs, which have capital national significance, to finally be positioned as a separate item in the budget of the Federation of BiH.

"Upon reviewing the Draft Budget of the FBiH, which we received through a representative in the FBiH Parliament, who also adopted it, we learned that there is no allocation for VKBI.

There are allocations for several 'academies' with hundreds of thousands of KM in planned funds, but apart from ANUBiH, all other academies are registered as associations of citizens, not as public academic institutions.

According to the laws on associations, such academies can be registered by three individuals, so apart from the name 'academy', there are no other formal legal prerequisites for them to be considered the highest scientific institutions in a society.

Of course, with these remarks, we do not wish to question the desire and will of the associations - academies to pursue their statutory goals, nor the political decision of the FBiH Government to finance them.

The question that remains open are the programs and projects being financed, and an explanation of the criteria by which the FBiH Government determined the amounts for support, and which national programs and projects are included.

In light of the above, we once again call on the FBiH Government, this time publicly, because meetings and encounters have clearly not been sufficient, as well as the delegates in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, especially those of Bosniak origin, to rectify this oversight and include the financing of VKBI's projects and programs in the FBiH budget for 2025 according to the duly submitted Request to the FBiH Government – Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, and thus show that they truly have a Bosnian and Bosniak sensibility towards the fundamental projects implemented by VKBI.

Alternatively, we propose that the House of Peoples of the FBiH, by its decision (conclusion), oblige the Government of the Federation of BiH to secure funds for VKBI's programs in 2025 according to the submitted request of VKBI, by reallocating funds in the FBiH budget for 2025, which the FBiH Government has the right and possibility to do by law.

If this oversight is not rectified, how can we explain that the Government and Parliament of the Federation of BiH are pro-Bosnian – when they are unwilling to clearly and systematically, through a transparent budget item (support), stand behind, for example, the continuation of the multi-volume Dictionary of the Bosnian Language – the most complex, comprehensive, and largest lexicographical scientific research project in the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Not to mention the programs of the Parent Society of Bosniak Councils, the first institutional gathering of Bosniaks," it was announced from VKBI.