KS Government in a bind: No extra money for youth subsidies, Bečarević warned Uk that 5.5 million KM won't be enough

(Patria) - The Sarajevo Canton Government will not allocate additional funds beyond the already planned 5.5 million KM for youth housing purchase subsidies.

Although 1,141 applicants met the criteria according to the preliminary list, this would mean each of them should receive 4,820 KM. This is far less than the 10,000 KM from before, and this year, due to rising real estate prices, that amount should have been around 12,000 KM.

If the KS Government were to stick to "that promise", then an additional 8.1 million KM would be needed to pay 12,000 KM to all applicants. It is possible that the number of applicants will increase during the appeal process if the commission accepts some objections.

Prime Minister Uk told Klix today that "the Government will decide how and in what way the money will be distributed" but that there will be no additional allocation of funds.

Former Minister of Communal Economy and Infrastructure Almir Bečarević, during whose term the public call was conducted, said that on November 5, he warned the KS Government that there would be a shortage of funds for all those who passed the public call. His estimate was 800 applications, but due to the period of as long as 15 months covered by the public call, a larger number of applications were received.

"Regarding the criteria, I submitted them before the KS Government session and asked everyone to review them and give their opinion. No one, absolutely no one, had any objections, and everyone agreed to remove the 3-year residency requirement in KS. Everyone agreed because some KS deputies also requested it, and there were objections from institutions that it was a discriminatory criterion. Also, there were dozens of calls from applicants who lost their rights from previous years, and for all these reasons, it was decided that the public call was well-drafted and the KS Government unanimously adopted it," Bečarević said in his reaction.

He stated that Prime Minister Uk himself supported the public call, and now that some have misused the public call, he is changing his mind.

"The problem here is the lack of funds and the problem with the Prime Minister not knowing how to secure funds," Bečarević stated.

The new KS Government, which no longer had positions for Party of Social Democracy (SBiH) cadres like Bečarević and Minister of Finance Emir Dedović, was appointed on November 15.

Screenshot of messages Bečarević sent to the KS Government