BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY AGAIN REJECTED STATE BUDGET DRAFT FOR 2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 24,2008) – The Bosnian Presidency rejected a 2008 draft budget for the Bosnian state institutions for the second time,the President Zeljko Komsic confirmed after the meeting.

This is the Bosnian state budget draft for 2008 which was adopted by the Bosnian Council of Ministers on January 17 in the amount of 1.186.357.560 Bosnian Marks. The Council agreed on this amount after January 10 when the Bosnian Presidency sent back for correction the original budget draft in the amount of 1.191.357.560 Bosnian Marks, asking them to reconsider the remarks of the Bosnian Presidency members.

New budget draft decreased by 5 million Bosnian Marks the Council reached by linear decrease of all material expenses of budget users for 2.7 %.

Bosnian Presidency members Haris Silajdzic and Zeljko Komsic were against this “corrected” budget and member Nebojsa Radmanovic was sustained. Their remarks were the same as those at the previous session of the Bosnian Presidency.

”Council of Ministers partially adopted Radmanovic’s remark and effectively decreased the budget draft that is, decrease in the amount to be taken from the unique Indirect Taxation Direction account by 35 million Bosnian Marks and tried to compensate it with income realized by the Central bank”, stated President Komsic at the press conference after the special session.

Bosnian Presidency member Haris Silajdzic’s remarks were not adopted concerning the assets for the return process, as well as the remark of President Komsic to open the segment of investments in science, culture, technology, development and agriculture within the spending for the Bosnian Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Draft will be again returned to the Council of Ministers, and the Bosnian Presidency this time voted on this.

”Our remarks still stand and now we have to wait to see how will the Bosnian Council of Ministers react”, stated President Komsic.

“Returning the budget to the Bosnian Council of Ministers for a second time is bad news,” said the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak yesterday.

“This can only slow the development of key Bosnian state institutions and will put increased pressure on them to implement a year long programme in what is now realistically nine months at best” Lajcak added.

Warning that a third failure would send a very negative message to the Bosnian public Lajcak urged the Bosnian Council of Ministers and the Bosnian Presidency to coordinate closely on a proposal which would finally get into parliamentary procedure.

SIX MOST INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL LEADERS IN BOSNIA TO DISCUSS CHANGES TO BOSNIAN CONSTITUTION ON FEBRUARY 2

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 24,2008) – The meeting of six most influential political leaders in Bosnia has been rescheduled for February 2. This meeting is seen as very important, as the leaders are going to discuss changes to the Bosnian Constitution.

It was originally supposed to take place in Siroki Brijeg this Friday, but the date was changed on the request of the President of the SDA Party Sulejman Tihic to postpone the meeting because he is undergoing a cancer treatment, and there is nobody who could replace him.

The venue will not change. The other participants now need to confirm that the new date suits them.

NICHOLL CONSIDERS AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION TO TAX RETURN ISSUE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 24,2008) – The Bosnian Taxation Authority Managing Board President Peter Nicholl is considering an alternative solution related to the value added tax (VAT) return.

Nichol announced that the amount of 10 per cent of minimal reserves at the joint account, which, in accordance with the decisions passed by the Managing Board in 2006 and 2007 is not enough to settle VAT tax return to tax payers.

That is why the Bosnian Taxation Authority Managing Board discussed this issue December 14,2007 and January 15,2008 in the sense that Act 9 Item 1 of the Law on Payments to Joint Account is implemented for the purpose of ensuring timely execution of the VAT tax return.

Since that proposal was not supported by the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "the RS", Nicholl is of the opinion that an alternative solution to the problem is needed.

RADMANOVIC AND SUVALOV DISCUSSED CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 24,2008) – A member of the Bosnian Presidency Nеbојsа Rаdmаnоvic met with the Russian Ambassador to Bosnia Konstantin Suvalov.They discussed current political situation in Bosnia, adoption of the Bosnian state budget for 2008, police reform and fulfilment of conditions for signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Bosnia and the EU.

Rаdmаnоvic expressed his expectations that authorities will take necessary measure to finalize adoption of legal provisions for the police reform and fulfil conditions for the SAA signing in spring.

They also talked about the closing of the Office of the International Community's high Representative in Bosnia (OHR) on which issue different opinions exist, among political parties in Bosnia as well as among the members of the Peace Implementation Council.

They also talked about political situation in the region with special attention given to the final solution for Kosovo.

EUPM CALLS FOR UGENT APPOINTMENT OF HNC POLICE COMMISSIONER

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 24,2008) - The EU Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM) strongly supports the Minister of Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC) in his appeal to relevant authorities to speed up the appointment process at the Independent Selection and Review Board. This would allow for the urgently needed appointment of a new Police Commissioner for the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton,the EUPM said.

The police service of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton cannot function effectively without a Police Commissioner, and therefore cannot fully respond to the needs of citizens. This issue should be high on the agenda of local authorities and should not be treated as a political, but rather as a purely professional issue.

The EUPM expects there will be no further unnecessary stalling of the Independent Selection and Review Board appointment.

The EUPM is European Union's mission in Bosnia that aids the Bosnian police organizations. It is the first such mission undertaken by the EU within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The EUPM was the successor to United Nations' International Police Task Force in Bosnia, whose term ended at the end of 2002.