No support from RS for the 2025 Budget of BiH institutions

(Patria) - An emergency session of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly will be held today at 2:00 PM, where the Proposal for the Budget of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2025 will be considered, submitted by the Presidency of BiH, with a request for consideration under urgent procedure, in accordance with Article 133 of the Rules of Procedure.

The SNSD has already stated that they will not support this budget proposal, and subsequently, the opposition from the RS also emphasized that they will not support either the urgent procedure or the proposed Budget because they disagree with the proposal to financially assist cultural institutions of national importance. The opposition from the RS has five representatives.

Without votes from the RS, the budget cannot be adopted because there is no entity majority, so the budget will remain on hold for some time.

According to the Proposal for the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations for 2025, a reduction in the budget is planned for only a few state institutions and ministries, while the Budget has increased for most institutions. The total planned budget for 75 institutions amounts to 1,485,604,000 KM, and with transfers and other reserved funds and loans, it amounts to 1,555,500,000 KM.

The largest increase is for the Central Election Commission of BiH due to the procurement and introduction of new election technologies in the next General Elections in 2026. Thus, an increase of 101,511,000 KM is planned for 2025. Additionally, the Chair of the Presidency of BiH, Željko Komšić, submitted an amendment for an additional 5 million KM for conducting early elections for the president of the Republika Srpska entity.

A budget reduction is planned for the Veterinary Office in the amount of 3,884,000 KM, as well as for the Administration for Plant Health Protection in the amount of 911,000 KM.

One of the largest budget reductions is planned for the Indirect Taxation Authority, amounting to 16,668,000 KM, the Ministry of Justice of BiH a reduction of 409,000 KM, and the Ministry of Security of BiH 915,000 KM.

A significant budget increase is planned for the Ministry of Defense of BiH in the amount of 28,120,000 KM, and an additional 4.5 million KM for the OSA. Budgets have also been increased for the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the Constitutional Court of BiH, and the HJPC.

Regarding state police agencies, an increase of 6.7 million KM is planned for the Border Police of BiH, 2.5 million KM for the SBS, and 962,000 KM for SIPA.

Direct transfers from the Budget plan funds for cultural institutions of national importance, based on the order of the High Representative, including 3 million KM for the National Museum of BiH, 800,000 KM for the Historical Museum of BiH, 400,000 KM for the Museum of Literature and Performing Arts, the same amount planned for the Art Gallery of BiH, 800,000 KM for the Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 2 million KM for the National and University Library of BiH, and 500,000 KM for the Cinematheque of BiH.

A transfer of 22 million KM is also planned for settling part of the debts and obligations of BHRT, support for BHRT's operations in the form of repayment of principal and interest to the EBU and EUTELSAT, and payments to suppliers for production and technical capacities and programming.

It is precisely these transfers, as well as the increase for the Ministry of Defense of BiH, that provoke negative reactions in the SNSD, which finds the budget unacceptable. We remind you that members of the Presidency of BiH, Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović, prepared the proposal, while Željka Cvijanović voted against it.

The budget will be presented to parliamentarians and delegates by the Minister of Finance and Treasury, Srđan Amidžić, and if he refuses, his deputy Muhamed Hasanović will do so.