Delayed discussions: "Technical errors" that increase the Budget by 100,000 KM

(Patria) - A session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH is being held in Sarajevo. A year after the constitution of this house, what can be called the first regular working session is only being held today. On the agenda is the Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2019, which should have been discussed at the beginning, not the end of the year.

However, due to the known recent blockade in the work of the BiH Parliament, the budget was not considered, and institutions and international obligations were financed based on the decision on temporary financing.

It is expected that the budget will also be adopted, judging at least by the stance of MPs from both the ruling and opposition parties, who supported it yesterday at the session of the Finance and Budget Committee of this house.

Jasmin Emrić (A-SDA) said that he is asking if there is any point in saying anything, or influencing.

"All of this is the past, and it is difficult for me to decide on it when it cannot even be assessed. We have audit recommendations and they are thorough, but we have not worked for a year and now we are facing this situation which cannot be justified in terms of financial transparency. There is no Parliament in the world that adopts such documents in this way," said Emrić.

He spoke about an alleged "technical error" that increases the Budget by 100,000 KM for the BiH Presidency for the employment of 24 people in September 2019.

MP of A-SDA Jasmin Emrić stated that there are inconsistencies in the Bill on the Budget for 2019, pointing out that the BiH Presidency submitted the bill to the legislators on July 31, 2019, and then on August 30, 2019, an "updated version".

He emphasized that there is no "updated" law, but only a "bill". According to him, the BiH Presidency justified the "update" by stating that a mistake had crept into the earlier proposal, meaning that "draft" was written instead of "bill".

"However, I went to review the numbers, and I saw that it is not just about technical errors. It is not a technical error to add another institution whose budget is increased, and that is the BiH Presidency. The updated version states that their budget is increased by 100 thousand KM for the employment of 24 people in September. That is not a technical error," said Emrić.

Dragan Mektić (SDS) said that they are in this difficult situation because the Parliament was blocked.

"What is the purpose of this Budget and its adoption? I tried to ask this question at the Constitutional-Legal Committee and was told that it is not a matter of constitutional-legal basis. What is the purpose of adopting such a document and what will it mean, will it be adopted by the end of the year, published in the Official Gazette?", said Mektić, emphasizing that a certain number of MPs blocked the work while receiving tens of thousands of KM.

Nermin Nikšić (SDP) believes that the Council of Ministers is not responsible for the Parliament not working.

Zukan Helez (SDP) drew attention to the fact that a lot is spent on the vehicle fleet.

"This applies to all governments. We must do everything to reduce it, as well as employee incentives. Names are repeated and I cannot escape the impression that these are some party people. 100,000 young and educated people have left the country. If we had given that money to them, these people could have been engaged," said Helez.

MPs will also vote on the Bill on Deposit Insurance in BiH Banks, proposed by the BiH Council of Ministers.

PDP MP Mira Pekić said that this law has been in the procedure for a long time and that it was on the agenda when the Law on Excise Duties in BiH was adopted. According to her, this law is one of the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

She stated that this law was preceded by the collapse of three banks in the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, which shook the financial sector of both the entity and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One of the novelties is that banks automatically become members of the deposit insurance system, cooperation between banking regulators in BiH, i.e., banking agencies.

"One of the main things being introduced is the possibility of restructuring banks for which entity laws state that they meet the conditions. This would be implemented from the deposit insurance fund," said Pekić.

MP Pekić said that what is good about this law is the introduction of a method for restructuring banks, but it is unclear what will happen to banks that do not meet the conditions for restructuring in accordance with entity laws.

HDZ BiH MP Nikola Lovrinović also took the floor, assessing that this law was unfortunate not to be adopted together with the Law on Excise Duties in BiH. He said that he proposes a conclusion related to the work and decision-making method of the management board that will be formed.

On the agenda are, among other things, the request for consideration of the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Salaries and Benefits in Institutions by urgent procedure, then the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices by urgent procedure, and the request for consideration of the Bill on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina by urgent legislative procedure.

After a year of blocked work, MPs will also consider a series of documents mainly related to the financing of numerous projects, the realization of which requires the consent of the BiH Parliament.

The ratification of these agreements should unblock funds intended for infrastructure projects, supported by international financial institutions.