Meeting between representatives of pensioners and the FBiH Government concluded: One-time aid promised after the elections

(Patria) - A meeting was held at the headquarters of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina between the leaders of the FBiH Government and representatives of the Association of Pensioners' Associations of FBiH.

The government delegation was led by Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, and the meeting was attended by ministers Toni Kraljević, Vojin Mijatović, and Adnan Delić, while the delegation of the Association of Pensioners' Associations was led by the President of the Management Board, Redžo Mehić.

In their demands, which they agreed upon at an extraordinary session of the Management Board of the Association and presented at the meeting with the FBiH Government, pensioners are seeking intensified work on amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO/MIO), specifically regarding the regular and extraordinary adjustment of pensions, with the aim of increasing pensioners' income in the future in line with the growth of average wages in FBiH and the consumer basket, instead of the current practice of tracking GDP growth.

After the meeting, President of the Management Board Redžo Mehić and Minister of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Adnan Delić addressed the public.

Mehić stated that he “feels that they have reached some understanding and agreement with the government after all”.

“It has been agreed that a working group will be formed, tasked with thoroughly examining all articles of the law that we consider unclear and contentious, and working on their harmonization. This group will include representatives from the relevant ministry of finance, the Federal Institute, and most likely from the pensioners' side. We welcome this,” he said.

The second demand of the pensioners was for an urgent extraordinary adjustment of pensions for pensioners in FBiH. However, as he stated, it was concluded that they from the pensioners' association must agree that the Government has no legal basis for this.

“The Government has done everything this year in accordance with the law regarding the regular adjustment of pensions, that is the famous Article 79 concerning the index of price growth and GDP. And that totals 6.55, not 1.55 as some malicious people claimed,” he said.

The Government offered on July 11, he added, to proceed with one-time aid to mitigate inflation and the very difficult situation.

“But let me remind you that all surrounding countries are doing this. However, the distribution of this one-time aid awaits the discussion on the budget rebalance. It is expected to happen sometime in the second half of October, generally after the elections, and certainly not to be used for electoral purposes, we will see what the amount will be,” Mehić said.

The Government also promised and intervened urgently today to secure additional one million KM for pensioners' treatment and rehabilitation aid, whereas 940,000 KM was planned.

If their demands are not met, pensioners have previously stated that they will protest on October 3.

“The Management Board will decide further on that, this is a new situation,” Mehić concluded.

Let us recall, a group of pensioners from various cities in BiH gathered in front of the FBiH Government building today, protesting and demanding that their requests be fulfilled.

Federal Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić also commented on the meeting, stating that the Government has fulfilled absolutely everything that was its obligation under the Law.

“The fact that it is currently not enough is a consequence of poor solutions in the law. It is not really possible to change systemic laws like this every year because it produces consequences for the entire financial system. However, the Government, aware of the needs of our pensioners, has expressed its readiness to work on amending the law, but this must be done without pressure, blackmail, and during the election campaign period when irresponsible populism surfaces. There is no doubt that we will continue to fully respect the Law. In the end, I told the representatives of the associations today that for all future increases, especially extraordinary ones, instead of a linear percentage increase, I will advocate for a nominal linear increase. That is, instead of a percentage increase that creates an additional difference between the highest and lowest pension, I will insist on a nominal increase in the same amount for everyone, from the lowest to the highest. This way, the differences will not increase, and I believe this is the only fair solution, especially for pensioners with lower pension amounts,” Nikšić stated.