FBiH Government Amends Law: Mayor of Mostar to Adopt and Be Responsible for Budget

The Federal Government, at today's emergency, telephonically held session, adopted the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Budgets in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which stipulates that, exceptionally and exclusively for the purpose of ensuring the financing of the City of Mostar in 2016, the Budget of the City of Mostar as well as the Decision on the Execution of the Budget for 2016 shall be adopted and the Mayor of the City of Mostar shall be responsible for its implementation, with the consent of the Head of Finance, it was announced from the FBiH Government, reports the Patria News Agency.  

The justification for its adoption stated that the City Council of Mostar has not been constituted, and therefore there is no legal basis for adopting the Budget of the City of Mostar and the Decision on the Execution of the Budget for 2016.

In order to ensure the normal functioning of public institutions and to avoid financial blockade, it is necessary, through amendments to the existing Law on Budgets in the FBiH, to enable the Mayor, with the consent of the Head of Finance of the City of Mostar, to adopt the Budget and the Decision on its execution.

The proposed amendments to the Law on Budgets in the FBiH are identical to the previous ones, which the Parliament of the FBiH adopted in 2014 and 2015, and which concerned the same issue.

For the adoption of this bill on amendments, the Federal Government proposed an urgent procedure, taking into account the time dynamics required for the adoption of the Budget of the City of Mostar and because it is not a complex and extensive law, it was announced from the Government.