FBiH ENTITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APPROVED BUDGET REBALANCE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) – The FBiH Entity House of Representatives approved at a special session the rebalance of the FBiH Entity Budget for 2007, which was tabled by the FBiH Entity Government in order to ensure 40,7 million Bosnian Marks which are lacking for the payment of benefits to unemployed demobilised soldiers in the last quarter of 2007.

The overall rebalance remains at the same level of 1,586 billion Bosnian Marks and there will no increases of the budget”, the FBiH Entity Minister of Finance Vjekoslav Bevanda said and added that all ministries will have to plan cuts in certain segments.

The FBiH Entity Government forwarded the proposal of the rebalance to the parliament in urgent procedure.

Opposition parties described as unfortunate the fact that veterans in the FBiH Entity are forced to use pressure towards the authorities to ensure that they get what they are entitled to under the relevant law, i.e. the Law on the Rights of Demobilised Soldiers, which was adopted by the the FBiH Entity Parliament in the previous mandate just before the elections in October last year.

The opposition then said that the adoption of the law was no more than a pre-election stunt and problems in its implementation prove this.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Caucus unsuccessfully proposed a conclusion that would task the FBiH Entity Government to plan in the budget for next year enough funds for the implementation of this law.

The parliamentary majority and the FBiH Entity Prime Minister Nedzad Brankovic rejected this proposal. He urged delegates to reject this conclusion formulated in such a way and stressed that the FBiH Entity Government is not the only institution in the FBiH Entity participating in the implementation of this law.

The adoption of this conclusion would amnesty other cantonal institutions, including employment bureaus, which are also responsible for its implementation, Brankovic said.