Government of FBiH and pensioner associations in the Federation of BiH sign agreement on joint action

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and two pensioner associations in the Federation signed an agreement on joint action today, the main goal of which is stability and inflow of money into the pension fund, reports the Patria news agency.

Since all the demands of the pensioner associations were accepted in the Agreement, including the remediation of the deficit in the federal PIO Institute, conditions have been met for the cancellation of the pensioner protests announced for September 29 this year, it was stated at a press conference held after the signing at the seat of the Federal Government in Sarajevo.

The full name of the signed act is the Agreement on Joint Cooperation in Implementing Activities for the Reform and Financial Consolidation of the Pension and Disability Insurance System, and the signatories are the Prime Minister of the Federation, Fadil Novalić, the President of the Executive Board of the Union of Pensioner/Retiree Associations in FBiH, Mehmedalija Rapa, and the President of the Union of Cantonal Retiree Associations of FBiH, Ivan Kožul.

As the implementation of the first point of this agreement, it was announced at the press conference that by tomorrow, September 15, the payment of all August pensions in FBiH will be secured. The September pension will be paid by October 10, and the October and subsequent pensions will be paid on the fifth day of each following month, or the first working day after that date if the fifth is a non-working day.

The Agreement also stipulates that the Federal Government will prepare, adopt, and submit as soon as possible to the parliamentary procedure a set of laws arising from the pension system reform - the Law on Pension/Disability Insurance in FBiH, the Law on the Organization of Pension and Disability Insurance, and the Law on Contributions.

This particularly applies to the first law, as the application of the new legal solutions should begin on January 1 of the next year. The Agreement also stipulates that after the new legislation comes into force and the deficit in the pension fund is remedied, talks on increasing pensions in the next year will follow.

Prime Minister Novalić announced at the press conference that on Thursday, the Government will consider a rebalancing of this year's Federation budget and allocate 21 million KM for the stabilization of the pension fund.

By the Agreement, the Government undertook the obligation to submit the texts of the announced new laws to the Union of Associations/Retirees in FBiH and the Union of Cantonal Retiree Associations of FBiH in Mostar, as the signatory associations of the Agreement, for their opinion before placing them on its agenda. The Government also committed to adopting a proposal for a law on amendments to the Law on Income Tax, so that these two associations are exempt from the obligation to pay tax on funds collected from membership fees as soon as possible, but no later than December 31, 2015.

The Government also committed to directing 20 percent of the cash proceeds from large-scale privatization to the Federal PIO Institute in order to settle part of the unpaid financial obligations and thus further improve the financial situation of the Federal PIO Institute, in accordance with the Law on Amendments to the Law on Privatization of Enterprises.

The Government, the Federal PIO Institute, and the two associations as signatories, through their representatives on the Institute's Management Board, will jointly monitor the state of revenues and collection of contributions in the Federal PIO Institute, as stated in the agreement signed today.