Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds Its 5th Session

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined, by a majority vote, a Draft Law on the Budget of Institutions of BIH and International Obligations of BIH for 2012, to be forwarded to the Presidency of BIH by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, which is the proposer of the Law. 

According to the Draft Law, the Budget of BIH Institutions is KM 1,394,928.00, out of which a total share for funding of institutions, including salaries and reimbursements are KM 950,000.00, which is 5 % higher in relation to the 2011 Budget, while the share for foreign debt servicing is KM 444,928,000.00.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the Council of Ministers of BIH defined, by a majority vote, a proposal Law on Amendment and Supplements to the Law on Salaries and Allowances in Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under the Proposal Law, the basis for calculation of salaries is decreased by 4.5 %, and it cannot be lower than 50%, instead of the present 85%, of average salary in BIH at annual level for a calendar year preceding two fiscal years in the year the basis takes effect.

The exemption is the basis for the lowest rate salaries, with 1.0 coefficient, to which the base line of KM 498.00 will be applied until Dec. 31, 2013.

The Ministry of Security and Ministry of Defence are tasked to quantify the status of policemen and soldiers, and report to the Council of Ministers of BIH accordingly.

Minister of Defence Muhamed Ibrahimović informed the Council of Ministers of BIH on efforts to reach an agreement with Entity representatives on text Draft Base Law on Service in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Ministry of Defence is tasked to continue its activities so that an agreed text Draft Law on Service in the Armed Forces in BIH would be finalised until the next session of the Council of Ministers of BIH.

The Council of Ministers of BIH took several decisions aimed at realising Budget savings to be implemented starting from May1 this year.

The basic principles governing the decision-making on adoption of salaries and allowances policies in BIH Institutions for 2012-2014 is the real state of affairs in economy and care taking of the level of salaries in Entity administrations and all other public sector institutions, providing a credible application of the principle “same salary for same or similar job”. The policy promotes a limitation of hiring in State-level institutions, provided that new employment only is possible in consistence with obligations of BIH.

By a decision on Amendment of Decision on allowances for official trips in BIH Institutions, daily allowances for trip abroad is reduced for 10%.

According to a Decision on a level of allowances to employees in BIH Institutions for food during the work hours, the allowances are reduced from KM 8 to KM 6.

Ministers took a Decision on a level of basis for calculation of salary to employees in BIH Institutions to amount KM 475.69, instead of the current KM 498.10, which would provide for a saving up to KM 15.5 million in 2012.

A Decision on ways and procedures for exercising the right of employees in BIH Institutions for accommodation and separate life allowances and for temporary redeployment allowance introduces a reduction of the number of allowances and decrease of separate life allowance for 25%. The Decision, to be applied starting from May 1 until December 31, 2012, will result in savings in amount of KM 2,6000,000.00, especially in view of the allocations for these allowances accounting for KM 15,5 million in the 2011 Budget.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted, by a majority vote, Information of the Ministry of Security and an accompanying proposal for launch of activities for accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Community Programme “Safer Internet Programme 2009-2013”, aiming at more secure use of Internet, especially by children and promotion of fight against illegal use of Internet contents.

The Ministry of Security is tasked to launch a procedure of joining the Programme “Safer Internet 2009-2013” and to prepare and send a letter of interest to the relevant EU DG.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted, by a majority vote, a document titled Natural and Man-Made Catastrophe Risk Assessment for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and tasked BIH institutions and bodies to start preparing plans and other risk assessment-related    documents for the purpose of reduction of risk from natural and man-made catastrophes and improved preparedness for removal of their consequences.

This is the first document offering a risk analysis and assessment throughout BIH territory, which contains consolidated statistics. The risk assessment is the basis document for development of similar documents at the lower levels of authority, and it will be posted at the web site of the Ministry of Security of BIH.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted and will send to parliamentarian procedure Information of the Ministry of Security on the state of crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011, which indicates that Bosnia and Herzegovina made a limited progress last year in border and asylum  management, while considerable progress was made in the area do migrations.

Last year’s crime trends point at two terrorist incidents; 13 % increase of general crime acts, relative to last year; and an increase of criminal acts against property, which are the most dominating ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also, the number of criminal incidents provoking general threat, illegal possession and trade with arms, and ethnic, religious and racial intolerance expressed towards persons and buildings was increased last year, in respect to 2010.

Simultaneously, the number of human trafficking and smuggling incidents was halved, in 2011, compared with 2010, and criminal acts of production and trade with narcotics is in stagnation, while a downward trend is evident with economic crime incidents, which are still very disturbing because of a gross material damage they caused in terms of KM 113,320,297.00.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information of the Directorate for European Integrations on the results of a pool, showing that, in the face of the present financial crisis in Europe over 76 % of BIH citizens support accession of BIH to the European Union, out of which 83% in the Federation of BIH, 56% in Republika Srpska, and 67 % in the Brčko District. In comparison with 2011 pool results, the level of support to the European integrations shows a drop of 12%.

The research was conducted by the Directorate for European Integrations in cooperation with the “Awareness Ii” EU Technical Assistance Project, in January 2012 by a method of personal interview in a phone pool at the sample of 1,014 respondents throughout BIH, showing that 73% of citizens of BIH has an affirmative view of the European Union.

The Council of Ministers of BIH is recognised as a country’s vehicle of the EU integrations, as attested by 38.4 % of respondents in 2012; 17.9 % more than in 2011. Also, 20.5 % of respondents saw the mover in Entity Brčko District Governments.

About 40% respondents believe that it takes more than 210 years for BIH to join the EU, while 31 % respondents indicate 5-10 years as a time needed for the accession, and 19.9 % believe that BIH will become the EU member in two to five years’ time.

The Council of Ministers of BIH accepted an initiative for negotiations for the conclusion of a Loan Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) – Additional Financing for the Project of Improvement of SMEs Accessibility to Funding.

This Agreement refers to an IBRD Loan worth USD 20 million, while the allocation, terms, grace period, currency and interest rate will be agreed to during follow-up negotiations.

The proposed Project is a follow-up of the Project of Improvement of SMEs Accessibility to Funding, concluded between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the IBRD in 2010, worth EUR 47,800,000.00, which is in the process of implementation. (end)