Annual reports on monitoring performance of BH governments and parliaments for 2012 were issued by CCI. A general conclusion of work of the highest legislative and executive bodies could be summed up in a few words: lack of work and negligence. BiH continues to stagnate. Social and economic situation of the country is getting poorer by the day, the country is still taking loans, the condition of human rights presents an example of bad practice, due to which we are risking expulsion from the membership of the Council of Europe. The Parliaments, especially the one at the level of BiH are still 'on life support' while the EU officials warn that faster adjustment of BH legislative with the European laws and more accelerated efforts at Euro-Atlantic integrations are necessary and in the interest of BH citizens.  This is a road that can bring progress to the country and awaken a hope in better future, influence a decrease of unemployment and stop the exodus of the young people who are still leaving the country.  We present the summaries of the performance of parliaments and governments at the state and federal levels of government in BiH below. Theese activities are supported by USAID. More...

BH Parliamentary Assembly

IN 2012 BH PA IGNORED THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE, PRESENTED IN A RATHER HARSH TONE REPORT, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. Just to remind, not only did they insist on urgent implementation of Sejdic-Finci Decision, but they clearly indicated that this should be only an introduction to overall constitutional amendments, in order to bring the country's system to EU civilization level. Of all the requirements, only the one on forming the government was partly met. Unfortunately, that government was dissolved only after three months of functioning, after which we witnessed unbelievable political plots, trades and turn of events, only to be followed by forming of the new government, which, to the general astonishment of both the national public and international officials, threatens to approve a set of bills that disrupt the achieved level of democratization and depoliticization in the country and establish even a firmer and more pervasive rule of the parties and their leaders, in almost all segments of life in the country.

BY LEAVING UP TO THE INFORMAL OUT-OF-INSTITUTIONS BODIES DECISIONS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES IN THE COUNTRY, BHPA WAS DEVALUED, DEEPLY HUMILIATED AND IT MADE ITS EXISTENCE SENSELESS. Parliament members, as the bearers of original, elective legitimacy, and representatives of the authorities elected by the citizens, turned into a humiliating service of their party leaders, who think and make decisions instead of them. Instead of being a key point of the political life of the country, the Parliament has turned itself into a technical service for formalizing of what has been agreed in the meetings of party leaders.

BOTH BH PAs CONTINUE WORKING WITHOUT APPROVED WORK PROGRAMS IN THE YEAR 2012, which is completely unacceptable and which has indubitably reflected in the overall performance of the Parliament, as a best picture of what is currently going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

THE NUMBER OF APPROVED BILLS IS INSIGNFICANT COMPARED TO THE COUNTRY'S NEEDS, WHILE THE TREND OF VOTING DOWN OF A BIG NUMBER OF BILLS , ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED IN THE REST OF THE WORLD, CONTINUES. In the past few years BH Parliamentary Assembly has been passing exceptionally few laws, while the number of bills voted down almost equals the number of those passed, or even exceeds it! Thus, in 2010, 27 bills were approved, 35 voted down, in 2011, 12 bills were approved, 15 voted down, while in the last year, 2012, 23 bills were approved and 19 voted down.  
About 80% bills voted down in BH PA during the period 2006-2012, were voted down by negative entities' voting.

AN ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SO-CALLED NEW FUNDAMENTAL LAWS IS ESPECIALLY WORRYING. In the past two years, excluding the Budget laws, only 3 fundamental laws were approved (all others were just amendments to the existing laws). In contrast, in the past two years, as many as 13 fundamental laws have been voted down, one of them the laws necessary for the Euro-Atlantic road of our country.

PERFORMANCE OF THE CURRENT BH PA IS TWICE LOWER COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS ONE, AND EVEN FOUR TIMES POORER THAN THE PENULTIMATE BH PA. In twelve months of 2008, BHPA approved the total of 41 bills, compared to 23 approved in 2012. On the other hand, in 2004, the incumbent BH PA approved as many as 87 bills, which is almost 4 times more compared to its last year's performance. If it continues at the rate shown in the first half of its mandate, this BH PA could approve only 70 bills by the end of its mandate, which is by as many as 100 bills less compared to what was achieved in the previous mandate.

THE RESULTS ACCOMPLISHED IN NEIGHBOURING PARLIAMENTS ARE THE BEST INDICATORS OF THE LACK OF EFFICIENCY OF BH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY AND THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM FACED BY CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY – ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS SHOWN BY OUR PARLIAMENT IN 2012, IT WOULD TAKE OUR PARLIAMENT TWO FOUR-YEAR MANDATES TO APPROVE THE SAMENUMBER OF BILLS APPROVED BY THE CROATIAN PARLIAMENT IN ONE YEAR. In 12 months of the past years 78 bills were approved by Montenegrin Parliament, which is almost by 3.5 times more than the number of laws approved by BH PA during the same period of time. The Republic of Serbia National Assembly, despite the fact that parliamentary and president elections were run, approved 130 laws in 2012, which is almost 6 times more than the number of laws approved by BH Parliament. And finally, the Croatian Parliament (Sabor), in 99 days in session in 2012, approved as many as 190 bills, which is even eight and a half times more compared to the number of laws approved by BH PA during the same period. And just to remind, Croatia is a country that has already adjusted its legislation with the „European“ which only awaits BiH.

Having said all that
OVERALL INCOME OF BH PA REPRESENTATIVES AND DELEGATES IS STILL THE HIGHEST IN THE REGION AND IS COMPLETELY IN DISAGREEMENT WITH ACCOMPLISHED RESULTS. Thus, almost 15 million KM a year is paid by BH citizens to the Parliament, the annual results of which are at the level of what the Croatian Parliament accomplishes in a month and a half, on the average. Of that almost a half is allocated for the delegates' salaries and privileges, which are still by far the highest in the region, ranging between 4.800 and 7.000 KM. And on top of that, their results are the worst by far.

And last but not least:
BIH STILL DOES NOT HAVE A „PROGRAM OF INTEGRATION IN EU“ WHICH IS A KEY DOCUMENT ON THE WAY OF BiH TO EU AND WHICH WILL CLEARLY DEFINE WHO DOES WHAT AND WHEN AND WHO ASSUMES RESPONSIBLITY FOR ALL THE SEGMENTS OF BH ROAD TOWARD EU. And responsibility is a key issue in this whole story. That is to say, the lack of it. Besides the failure to comply with the commitments made. For example, the Stabilization and Association Agreement of BiH and EU was signed more than 4.5 years ago (on 16 June 2008), and has still not become effective, while in the meantime: Serbia acquired the candidate status, Montenegro started negotiations with EU and the Republic of Croatia ended its negotiations and is bound to become a full 28th member of the European Union on 01 July 2013.

BiH Council of Ministers
GENERALLY SPEAKING, DURING 2012, THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DID NOT DO A LOT, ESPECIALLY CONCERNING SOLVING OF CITIZENS' KEY PROBLEMS. Only fifteen measures, or only 1.3% of the total number of realized points in the sessions of BH Council of Ministers held during 2012, can have more significant impact on solving the most burning problems of BH citizens. Something that makes the result even worse is the fact that these fifteen measures include the Law on Free Legal Assistance in BiH, which was in the meantime ruled down in BH PA House of Representatives.   
 

A WHOLE LOT OF COMMITMENTS HAS NOT BEEN MET, IN THE FORM OF LAWS AND STRATEGIES IMPORTANT FOR THE EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION ROAD OF OUR COUNTRY. In 2012 we were again a country that received the worst rating from the European Commission. Besides the already mentioned Decision of the Court for Human Rights, the Council of Ministers was supposed to implement the „Strategy of Social Inclusion of BiH“ based on the commitments made, as well as the uniform „BiH Law on Courts“, „Law on the Program of Protection of Witnesses in BiH“, „Law on Public Procurements“, „Strategy for the Development of the System of Quality Infrastructure and of Horizontal Coordination Mechanisms“, „Comprehensive Strategy of Rural Development“, state-level „Law on Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship“, „Energy Strategy“, and harmonize BIH Customs Law with EU Customs Code, establish BiH Agency for Protection of the Environment, etc.

THE AUTHORITIES PROVED TO BE INCOMPETENT TO STOP DEVASTATING TRENDS IN THE MOST IMPORTANT FIELDS OF LIFE. The calculated administrative unemployment rate in BiH at the end of 2012 amounted to unprecedented 44,5%. The employment bureaus throughout BiH have a record of 550.574 names of legally capable persons who look for any kind of employment. From the day of BH General Elections in October 2010, which was preceded by numerous promises made by all current parliamentary parties who said that their main mission would be to 'fight' unemployment, the number of registered unemployed was increased by 33.594 persons, which is even 9 times more than the number of the employed during the same period.   

THE RATE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ANNUAL WORK PROGRAM FOR 2012 IS BETTER HIGHER COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS MANDATE, BUT IN TERMS OF QUALITY IT IS REPRESENTS ONE OF THE WORS RESULTS IN THE PREVIOUS PERIOD. 60% efficiency in fulfillment of the annual Work Program of the Council of Ministers for 2012 is actually the best result in this field in the last 6 years. On the other hand, BH public cannot be satisfied with such an accomplishment, because almost 300 measures remained unrealized. Something that is really worrying is that as many as 11 state strategies, 44 laws, 53 rulebooks and 60 agreements/contracts are among the unrealized measures. They are at the same time the most important enactments and have to do with, amongst others, harmonization with the European standards.

THE MOST EFFICENT MINISTRY IN TERMS OF PROGRAM REALIZATION WAS THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS, WHILE THE MINSITRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCALE; THE LATTER WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WORKED ALMOST THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 2012 WITHOUT AN APPROVED PLAN. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by the minister Zlatko Lagumdzija is one of the most expensive BH institutions, with the budget that is many times bigger compared to the other ministries. This Ministry, besides our many warnings, ended the year 2012 without a verified annual Work Program. Of the Ministries that worked according to an approved work program for 2012, only BH Ministry for Transport and Communications had below 50% of the realization of that plan. This Ministry is headed by minister Damir Hadzic. In terms of the realization of the annual work program, the most efficient Ministry was the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations headed by Mirko Sarovic, with 80% of the measures implemented.  

THE CURRENT COUNCIL OF MINISTERS APPROVED IN 2012 TWICE LESS LAWS COMPARED TO THEIR PREDECESSORS 4 YEARS AGO, AND EVEN LESS THAN THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 8 YEARS AGO. The previous BH Council of Ministers, in the second year after the general elections, i.e. in 2008, approved 61 bills while the penultimate CM, in 2004, approved 79 different bills. This is significantly more than 29 bills, which were approved by the current CM in 2012.
Of 29 approved bills, 19 were planned, which is only 30% of the annual plan that was extremely modestly projected in the first place. Of 44 unrealized and planned bills, as many as 25 are fundamental bills, while they mostly focused on harmonization of the local with the European legislation.  

JUSTICE MINISTRY WAS THE MOST PRODUCTIVE IN APPROVING THE BILLS IN 2102, WHILE THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS WAS THE MINSITRY WITH THE LOWEST PERFORMANCE. At the proposal of the Justice Ministry, headed by minister Barisa Colak, BH Council of Ministers approved in 2012 a total of 11 laws, which is more than one third of the total number of approved bills. The Ministry of Transport and Communications, headed by Damir Hadiz, was beyond doubt the worst in performance of legislative activities, as it planned 10 bills and approved only ONE.   

THE COOPERATION BETWEEN THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS AND BH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY IS STILL UNCOORDINATED AND UNPRODUCTIVE.  In twelve months of 2012, of 29 bills approved by BH Council of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly approved only 8, plus three bills on the Budget – for 2011, 2012 and 2013. At the same time 6 bills were voted down or returned. Among the bills of the Council of Ministers that were voted down in 2012, there are three fundamental bills (Law on BH Associations, Law on Free Legal Assistance and Law on Foundations) – all three bills were rejected by use of the entities' voting mechanism on the part of RS representatives. On the other hand, among the bills that were approved, only the laws on budget are fundamental laws. Looking at the ratio of the planned and approved in 2012, we arrive at the fact that of 63 bills that were planned in the Council of Ministers Work Program, the approval procedure in the Parliament was completed for only seven of them.

COMPARISION WITH THE NEIGHBOURS SHOWS RATHER DISCOURAGING RESULTS – ALL THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES' GOVERNMENTS WORK MORE AND HAVE MUCH BETTER RESULTS. During 2012, BH Council of Ministers held 35 sessions, while during the same time period the Republic of Croatia Government held twice as many, and the Government of Serbia even three times more sessions compared to their BH colleagues. Having said that, while BH Council of Ministers approved only 29 laws in one year, the Government of our neighbour, Montenegro, approved twice as many (more precisely – 61), the Government of Serbia three and a half times more (104) and the Government of Croatia five times more (148, which is most likely more than the current Council of Ministers will have approved by the end of its four-year term).
On the average, in 2012, 2 and a half bills were approved by the Council of Ministers, on a monthly basis, while the monthly average of Montenegro Government, during the same time period is 5 bills, of the Government of Serbia 8 and a half bills and of Government of Croatia as many as 12 bills.  .  

BH Federation Parliament
IN 2012, THE AUTHORITIES THAT WERE HARDLY FORMED AFTER THE ELECTIONS, DISSOLVED. There was a change of the parliamentary majority, which however did not manage to replace the government too. Something that CCI warned about shortly after the elections turned out to be true: our authorities structure, laid down by our Constitution, is extremely complex and designed for firm and stable coalitions and that once that a structure is made after the elections it is impossible to change it until the next elections.  

THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT UNFORTUNATELY BECAME AN INEVITABLE PART OF POLITICAL LIFE IN THE FEDERATION. Incapacity of local politicians for a constructive dialogue, compromise and observance of democratic standards and the rule of law, resulted in a situation where the political life of the Federation became unthinkable without the judgment of the Constitutional Court and the interventions of the „international community“. All the effects of the sessions held in July and June 2012 were annulled by the judgment issued on 28 August 2018. Adding the fact that the Parliament did not sit in August due to vacations, this means that 3 months in a row were lost for the citizens of this country due to political games and the lack of MPs' responsibility. To make things worse, no one was held accountable either for the waste of time or for breaching the Constitution.
Unfortunately, this was not the end. Parliament did not have a single sitting in October either.

ONE OF THE CLASSIC DOMESTIC ABSURDITIES – IN THE SITUATION OF POLITICAL CONFLICT, IN THE 4TH QUARTER THE PARLIAMENT SHOWED THE BEST PERFORMANCE IN THIS MANDATE. Looking by quarters, of bills approved in 2012 (a total of 49), BH Federation Parliament finally implemented 29 laws in the first quarter, 8% in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter 2012, the procedure was completed for as many as 59% bills approved in this year. To say the truth, a part of them had already been approved in one of the houses and just awaited the decision of another Parliament house.
Looking on the whole, in 4th quarter (more precisely in the 2 last months of 2012!) the legislative procedure was complete for 29 laws, which is 1 less than the number of laws approved throughout 2011. We can only feel sorry that we did not have such an efficiency during the whole year. Or during the whole mandate.

BESIDES SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE IN 4TH QUARTER, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PLANNED OBLIGATIONS WAS DISASTROUS – THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, ONLY 13 OF THE PLANNED LAWS WERE REALIZED. Unlike the first nine months, when the realization of the laws planned by the programme was only 1%, i.e. when, of total number of the laws planned by the Work Program of BH Federation Parliament for 2012, only one law completed procedure of both Parliamentary houses, the realization of the planned laws as of 31 December 2012 is at the level of 13% and is the same as the one in the past two years.
Of course, this is good only if we compare it with the catastrophic results from the first 9 months, but it essentially represents an unacceptably bad performance, which, among others, gave BH Federation Parliament bad reputation as one of the least efficient institutions of the authorities in the country. Simply, a very rudimentary mathematics shows that it would take this Parliament two four-year mandates to implement only that number of laws that were planned for approval in one year only. Or – to say this differently – in order to approve the number of laws necessary for one four-year mandate, this Parliament would need 8 mandates or 32 years of work!

POLITICAL CONFLICTS RESULTED IN LOWER EFFICIENCY OF THE PARLIAMENT. Much more time was spent for the same results in 2012. Although they spent more hours in plenary sessions in 2012 compared to the previous Parliament in two years of its mandate, the results that FBiH Parliament showed at the end of the year were at the level of the last years' average. Almost all regular sessions of the House of Peoples were interrupted without voting on discussed measures (5 of 6), which resulted in the postponement of as many as 60 measures, of which 8% were laws. It is also noteworthy that one third of mentioned 60 measures have been in the procedure since the last mandate.

NO TIME COULD BE SPARED FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES, THROUGHOUT 2012. Three thematic sessions in the field of employment, health care and the issues of the young that were initiated as early as at the beginning of 2012, are still pending. The implementation of numerous conclusions drawn in a number of held thematic sessions in the last year is also pending, as well as the additional initiative for holding thematic sessions.

ALTHOUGH IT APPEARED THAT THE WORK PROGRAM FOR 2103 WOULD BE PASSED ON TIME – BEFORE THE END OF 2012 – THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. After the experience in the last year when the work programs of both Federal Parliament houses were approved with a number of months delay and with violation of the Rules of Procedure, the Secretariat of FBiH P House of Representatives expressed willingness to develop the Work Program for 2013 before the end of 2012. This was assessed by CCI as an extremely positive move. However, due to political conflicts, the Work Program for 2013 was not approved within the legally prescribed deadline. In contrast to that the Budget was approved on time.

INTER-PARTY CONFLICTS COMPROMISE EVEN THE CONSTITUTIONALLY DEFINED FORMS OF EXPRESSION OF EQUAL POSITION OF CONSTITUENT PEOPLES. Although there has been more than 2 years since the elections, a position of the vice-chairman in the House of Peoples of BH Federation Parliament is still vacant. This is due to the failure to get an agreement between the political parties. This position should be filled by a representative of the Delegates' Club from among the Serbian people.

THE ELECTRONIC VOTING SYTEM, THAT COST A LOT OF MONEY, IS STILL NOT BEING APPLIED. Even though in our previous reports we appealed to the leadership of both houses that the system of electronic voting should be made operational, this has not been done yet. It is noteworthy that the installation of the system, as well as refurbishing of the hall cost FBiH citizens over 2 million KM. Due to this fact, it is impossible to solve the problem of unexcused absence of representatives and delegates and of abuse of voting, and the broader public is not able to see individual discussions on the issues on the agenda by elected representatives. And it would be really interesting to see who voted against the Law on Control of Corruption and Organized Crime in FBiH, at the session held on 29 November 2012.

INADEQUATE WORK AND POOR RESULTS OF THE FEDERAL MPs COST THE TAX PAYERS A LOT OF MONEY. Namely, the MPs did not receive their salaries according to their performance but in full amounts. So that it never even occurred to anyone to take only 13% of his/her annual salary, and to return the remaining part that he/she did not earn to the citizens of this entity. Besides, they also took the salaries for the months in which they did not work at all, and for the work that was proclaimed unconstitutional. However, the biggest loss is not presented by the payments made for what was by every standard a poor performance of FBiH representatives and delegates. The biggest loss includes the consequences of such work, expressed in the gravity of the economic situation in the country, the number of unemployed and bad quality of life.

BH Federation Government
IN CONTRAST TO FBiH PARLIAMENT, ON THE PERFORMANCE OF WHICH THE POLITICAL CRISIS HAD PRACTICALLY NO IMPACT, (EXCEPT FOR ANNULLING THE SESSIONS BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT) BH FEDERATION GOVERNMENT SUFFERED SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. In the first 6 months of 2012 the Government implemented a respectable 40% of its annual work program, additionally improving its performance in 2011, when it had a higher level of realization of planned obligations compared to the previous government in any year of its mandate. However, due to the political fights that were to ensue, the results of the Government were reduced and brought to the level of the results in the previous mandate – namely, in the second half of 212; the Government implemented only 25% of the planned.   

CHANGES ON THE POLITICAL SCENE PREVENTED THE FEDERATION GOVERNMENT FROM ACHIEVING THE BEST RESULTS SO FAR. However, looking on the whole and thanks to the excellent result in the first part of the year, the result in 2012 is just a little below the one in the previous year, and still much better than the results of previous governments. Most comparisons with previous governments speak in favor of higher efficiency and more efforts on fulfillment of tasks by the current Federation Government. In comparison to the appropriate time periods of the activity of two previous Governments (2002-2006 and 2006-2010), BH Federation Government members had more sessions in 2012, and implemented by far more measures, among which a number of laws, as well as the measures dealing with the citizens' priority problems..

GOVERNMENT'S WORST PERFORMANCE IS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ENACTMENTS. A percentage of the implementation of planned information-analytical measures from FBiH Government Program in 2012 is about 80%. While the realization of the legislative part of the Program is only at the level of 58%, and of the rulebooks 47%. In 2012, the plan to realize 59 rulebooks, 8 strategies, 40 laws, etc. was not accomplished.
We should mention only some measures that remained unrealized: Law on Health Insurance, Law on the Games of Chance, Law on Amendments to the Law on the Fund for Protection of the Environment, Strategy of Development of Wood Industry, Strategy of Development of the Industry for Textile, Leather and Footwear, Strategy of Development of the Construction Sector, Mid-term Strategy of Development of Agricultural Sector in FBiH during the period 2013-2017.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE ACTVITIES BY THE GOVERNMENT WAS ANNULLED BY THE ACTIONS OF THE PARLIAMENT. In 2012, BH Federation Government approved a total of 89 bills (56 from the Program and 33 unplanned). However, only some more than one fourth of these „government“ bills i.e. 24 bills went through the whole parliamentary procedure. Additionally, only 15 of approved bills are from this year's Work Program which, let us repeat, planned passing of as many as 96 laws. It is additionally discouraging that among 89 bills approved by the Government in 2012, 43 bills are fundamental laws (which is an excellent progress, compared to the previous practice), however, by 31 December 2012, the Parliament approved only 5 of them.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT GOVERNEMENT MEASURES, DESIGNED WITH A VIEW TO IMPROVE THE CITIZENS' LIFE QUALITY WAS JEOPARDIZED BY THE PARLIAMENT. In one year we recognized 60 measures implemented by the Government, which, stand out by their importance in the context of solving the citizens' burning problems. This figure is considerably higher than what we had in the past, however, in 90% of cases, these are the laws for which the parliamentary procedure is not complete. So, we failed to see any positive effects from these measures. Something that FBiH citizens should be most concerned about is a slow implementation of the measures from the existing strategic and action employment plan.  
ONE MORE ABSURDITY. In the context of actual political conflicts, there is an interesting fact that of 24 approved bills in 2012 in the Federal Parliament, as many as 16 were approved at the proposal of the ministers from three parties (SDA, HSP and NSRzB), which do not have a support of the majority in the Parliament. Moreover, 3 of 4 laws for which only the texts should be adjusted prior to their publication in FBiH Official Gazette, have also been proposed by the ministers from these parties.

A LOT OF TIME WAS SPENT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN 2012, TOO, ON STAFFING POLICY. Of total number of measures implemented in the sessions of the Federal Government, in 2012, 217 decisions deal with the staffing issues. If we look at the whole of the first half of the regular mandate of the current BH Federation Government (2011 and 2012) we can see that of total of 3395 implemented measures as much as 15% relates to different replacements and appointments. In this mandate, the Government generally dealt more with the implementation of measures regarding different financial transactions and approvals of budget allocations. The first decisions of the new parliamentary majority, in 2013, indicate that this trend is going to continue.
In the context of the above-mentioned, this is not just about the waste of time, and turning the focus of work away from really important things, but is also an unacceptable and completely inappropriate spreading of the influence of politics (and the parties). In that sense, it is high time that public debate be started and for the law to precisely define which of the functions, i.e. positions are „political“ (i.e. they change with the change of the authorities), that their number be limited, and at the same time, to make sure that all other positions in the state are filled based on knowledge, expertise and working references, rather than on the basis to affiliation to a party, loyalty, or connections. Having said that, special attention should be paid to the protection of independence and professionalism of certain bodies whose work, if they were to be influenced by policy, would be made pointless.

IN 2012 THE JUSTICE MINISTRY WAS THE MOST FRUITFUL MINISTRY IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Summing up the approved bills, whether planned or unplanned, we can see that in 2012 the Justice Ministry, headed by minister Zoran Mikulic was the most productive. This Ministry was the proponent of 22 bills that were approved by the Federal Government. Unfortunately, this Ministry still faces the problems of the implementation of planned obligations, because in the overall number of the bills prepared by the Federal Ministry, the unplanned bills still prevail.  
The Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry, headed by minister Erdal Trhulj, stands out by its very good performance speaking of the implementation of planned laws. In the last year, 13 bills of total 16 planned were implemented by this institution, which also stands out by the importance of the planned bills and by very good realization of even 81% of the legislative plan. In terms of the results of implemented laws from FBiH Government annual Work Program, the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry is followed by the Finance Ministry, headed by minister Ante Krajina as well as the Health Ministry, headed by minister Rusmir Mesihovic.  

FEDERATION GOVERNMENT ENTERED THE YEAR 2013 WITHOUT THE APPROVED WORK PROGRAM BUT WITH THE HIGHEST BUDGET SO FAR, WHICH IS, NEVERTHELESS, STILL OF ABSOLUTELY NON-DEVELOPMENT CHARACTER. The Rules of Procedures of BH Federation Government were violated, because this institution continues to work without the approved annual Work Program in the year 2013. The Federation budget for 2013 was approved for the first time without the majority support of the Government and adopted under the pressure of deadlines set by the IMF. The Budget lacks a development component, and was replenished with almost 240 million borrowed from the IMF, while 45.5% of it will be spent for payment of debts, interest, and salaries and compensation of expenses of employees.

Republika Srpska National Assembly
In 2012, the MPs spent a total of 37 working days in session or 20 working days less compared to 2011. Professional MPs earned in 2012 about 33.600 KM, i.e. 41 average RS salaries. An MP who receives only a flat payment also received a significantly higher income compared to the average RS salary, so only with a flat payment he/she made income in the amount of 22.900 KM or almost two and a half times more than what is an average worker’s salary.

The Republic of Srpska National Assembly had a clear plan in front of itself in 2012, according to which 81 bills and 76 thematic units were planned to be approved.

43 planned bills were approved by the MPs in sessions, and they also accepted 11 bills in draft, and approved 23 unplanned bills in 3 non-plenary draft laws. 53.5% planned bills were implemented, while 33% of the plan was not implemented at all.

Looking at the execution of what has been planned by quarters, of 80 planned bills, only 24 or 29%. bills have been implemented within a precise timeline and in accordance with the planned schedule.

There is an overall impressions that the RS NA did not work enough on the implementation of planned legislative activities, however a progress was still seen compared to the previous analyses (after the first quarter, the implementation was for the first time worse than that of the Federal Parliament, which has been an example of utter inefficiency for years).  

If we include the thematic units, RS NA ended the year with 58.5% implemented planned activities.  

Measures of vital importance that the Assembly did not discuss
In the legislative part, after 12 months of the Assembly's work, a few bills remained in the procedure, some of them including the bills that could have a more considerable influence on citizens' lives.  

The Law on Professions was supposed to define a framework of professions and decrease procedural problems during employment of a certain number of citizens who were practically discriminated, because their professions were not adequately treated in the procedures for getting a job. We also single out the Law on Amendments to the Law on Health Protection, Law on Health Insurance, Law on Fiscal Responsibility.  We should also underline the Law on Rights of Disabled Civilians who are in a much worse positions than the persons who are beneficiaries under the law on veteran-disabled persons’ protection.

Unemployment is definitely the biggest issue in our society, however the MPs did not ask the Labour Ministry to state their views on the effects accomplished in 2011, regarding the approved Employment Action Plan in 2012.

The Health Insurance Fund is going through a big crisis, with the resigning of the director of this institution, Goran Kljajcin, this resignation being one of the products of that crisis. The Pension and Disabled Persons' Fund is in a very bad position, while the ratio between pensioners and workers is almost identical and does not promise a bright or certain future to either the pension beneficiaries of future pensioners.

Cooperation of the Republic of Srpska National Assembly and the Republic of Srpska Government

In 2012, RS NA planned the approval of 81 bills. Of those 81, the Government approved and submitted to the parliamentary procedure 54 of them. 3 bills were withdrawn from the procedure prior to Assembly voting by the proponent. The final result is that of 81 envisaged laws, 43 bills were approved (53% of the annual plan) and 11 more accepted in the form of a draft.  A big percentage of 33% laws that were planned for approval by RS NA in 2012, were never sent before the MPs in 2012, in whichever format.

Besides the laws from the Work Program, the RS Government approved 37 unplanned laws, 26 in a form of proposal, and 11 in the form of draft. By the end of 2012, NA approved 23 proposed bills while 3 bills were accepted as draft.

The presence of the RS Government ministers in the Assembly is in accordance with the Rules of Procedures, although we can say that the RS prime minister’s presence at NA meetings was very rare, more precisely he attended every third meeting when he was supposed to answer the MPs’ questions or when there were certain items on the agenda that he represented in his capacity of the RS prime minister. The opposition frequently objected that the RS prime minister was not there when important issues were discussed, trying in that way to actually avoid confronting with their arguments.

A total of 385 questions were asked in 2012 by the MPs, and the only Ministry to which no question was asked was the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Most questions were addressed to the RS prime minister: 71. 38 questions were received by the Ministry of Labour, while the Ministry of Transport and Communications received 34 questions, the Ministry of Industry 32 questions, the Finance Ministry 29 questions, Education Ministry 26 questions, RS MIA 21 questions, Ministry of Agriculture 25 questions, Health Ministry 15 questions, Ministry of Administration 10 questions, Justice Ministry also 10 questions, 9 questions were addressed to the Ministry of Trade, 4 to the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons, 3 to the Ministry for Economic Relations and 2 to the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sport.

MPs activism and their remuneration

The MPs from the opposition frequently say that they are nor sufficiently visible in the public due to the lack of television coverage. This assertion is partly denied in by the results of the local elections, although it is possible that these results would have been even better if the RS NA sittings had been broadcast in live. The work of the opposition was based on criticism of the existing situation in the society, and covered a wide range of subjects on which they discussed harshly and sometimes without choosing words, speaking about the situation in the funds such as the Health Fund, Pension and Disabled Persons’ Fund, then the overall situation in the health sector, the situation regarding the position of RS Forests, Railways, unemployment and over-indebtedness of the Republic of Srpska in general. The opposition has taken advantage of low rating of the RS Government, headed by prime minister Aleksandar Dzombic, in the public, and took any opportunity to point out at the weaknesses in the system, all-pervasive corruption, influence of politics on work of the judiciary and the like.

In 2012 there were no completely inactive MPs, in contrast to the situation after a nine-month report on work of RS NA in which we listed the MPs whose references as to their participation in discussions, replies and MPs’ questions were completely missing. We stated in it that the biggest problem was with the SNSD Club of MPs which is made of 37 MPs along with the participation in work of the Club of an independent MP Slavica Jovanovic. After a significant fall of the results in local 2012 Elections, the MPs from SNSD raised the level of both their activities and visibility in RS NA sessions.

The MPs from the position should have asked more questions relating to the responsibility in spending public funds concerning capital investments, winning jobs in tenders and to qualifying audit reports. The MPs from the position should have, before the opposition, shown the strength and pointed out at the fatal consequences of hiring people because of their party affiliation, of constant raising of the price of reconstruction of Banja Luka Clinical central, irrational spending of funds on reconstruction of the Cemerno notch that is not placed in function despite the funds that were paid in advance to Mr. Slobodan Stankovic’s Company. There are a number of examples where responsible action of the position failed, for example the MPs from the position never emphasized any work of any minister or pointed out at his/her low performance. There were a lot of mistakes made by the position in this field, from which the opposition benefited, taking any opportunity to use the public media and underline the mistakes accumulated over the previous years.

We should not forget that the authorities spent the entire ‘reserve budget’, i.e. the proceeds from privatization of Telekom, and that they are taking more and more loans every day, with the debt increasing by the year, so that in 2013 and 2014 the RS will have been obliged to return about 900 million KM to the IMF, and these funds are currently missing in the created surplus value.

Program of work of RS NA and RS Budget

The Work Program was approved with a delay, more precisely, as late as on 23 February 2012. It is characterized by the lack of ambition and even as such was implemented only at the level of 41.5%. This is a chronic drawback and RS NA has still not approved the Work Program that would enable it to start the year with clear goals.

The budget is sustainable with the IMF funds but does not have a development character.
Transparency

An objection, like in all the previous years addressed the lack of TV broadcasts. The picture in the public on the work of RS NA is really not clear enough. The citizens are not aware of what is being discussed in the Assembly. The other transparency segments are on the rise, the minutes, MPs' questions, announcements, and the like are uploaded to this institution's website.

Government of  Republika Srpska
The Government sessions and their scope

In the last year, i.e. 2012, the RS Government held the following number of sessions: 49 regular, 20 special, 7 thematic and one extraordinary session. In these sessions the RS Government planned to discuss 1.882 points while significantly bigger number of the points were discussed, i.e. 2.366 by 30 September 2012. On the average, the RS Government discussed 30.7 items of the agenda per session held. In special, thematic and extraordinary sessions, the Government discussed 58 items of the agenda. The biggest number of items was discussed in regular sessions, more precisely 2.308 items. Looking at the regular sessions only, the RS Government discussed 47 items per a held session, on the average.

The RS Government spends 70% of its time on determining decisions, resolutions and information, and most of these measures were never planned.

Staffing schemes did not avoid the RS Government in 2012

It is noteworthy that there have been changes in the RS Government and the positions of

vice-presidents were left by Anton Kasipovic who remained a minister and Dzerard Selman who was appointed for a position in the judiciary. The new vice-presidents of the RS Government are the following: from among the Croatian people: Nada Tesanovic, from among the Bosniacs Jasmin Komic. A new minister of trade and tourism Bakir Ajanovic was appointed only in the mid-September, while the previous minister of trade, Gorana Zlatkovic was appointed justice minister. That these staffing schemes would be just a prelude to more important events was seen in February 2013, when the RS Government was replaced.  

Burden of responsibility in the work of the Government and its ministries

By analyzing the RS Government sessions we get the information that has already become a rule, namely, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Ministry of Education and Culture carry the heaviest burden in the RS Government sessions. Together with the Ministry of Labour and Veteran and Disabled Veterans' Protection, the Ministry for Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation, and with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the said Ministries prepared and submitted 1.293 points to the RS Government sessions, for discussion and approval. Comparing this with a total number of the items on the agenda in 2012, which comprised 2016 items, all 7 ministries prepared 64% of the material that was discussed in the RS Government sessions in 2012. The Ministries whose participation in the RS Government sessions was the least visible included the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons and the Ministry of Science and Technology, which does not mean that they did their jobs better or worse, but that they have different responsibilities.

Insufficient number of vital measures discussed in the RS Government sessions in 2012
A number of measures that could have certain positive effects on the life of citizens in the forthcoming period have been passed:

• The Law on Contributions was approved in an emergency procedure; its application will ensure higher inflow of funds to the PIO Fund, which is very important from the point of view of the fact that the number of workers and the pensioners is almost equal and that the previous contribution rate did not guarantee the stability of the Fund, and hence the existence of pensioners’ population.
• Law on Census is of extreme importance, because almost all strategic decisions are essentially a product of assumptions, while the census will ensure that we exactly know what the RS really has, so that we will be able to define in which direction possible development improvements can go.
• Law on Prevention of Mobbing at the Work Place. Protection of the workers’ rights, at the level of the system, during the time of severe exploitation, is a very important measure that both the employers and the employees in enterprises and institutions will take care of.
• Decision on Determining Priority Projects from the RS Program of Public Investments financed from the RS budget is a development opportunity in many segments of life in RS.
• Adult education plan: At the time of high unemployment it is important to have a system plan that includes a possibility of re-qualifications, additional qualifications and education in general.
• The activity plan for informing local communities and business subjects on the possibilities of investments according to the model of public-private partnership. Developing the private initiative at the local level is a vital issue for many local communities.
• Information on the effects of incentives for hiring unemployed persons in the RS. Incentives for unemployment are one of the ways to overcome the crisis.
• Regulation on the Measures of Information Safety is significant because of different aspects and the rise in the crime rate and other deviations possible through the Information Technologies.
• Information on the realization of a Special Program of Subsidizing the Interest rate on Housing Loans for the Young and the Young Couples is a vital measure at the time of the crisis.
• The Action Plan of the Implementation of the Youth Policy in the RS is a measure by which the young create a framework to be followed during making of an ambiance for their better living conditions.
• Strategy of the Development of Sport in the RS is necessary, as the situation in sport in the RS is very bad.
• Policy of promotion of nutrition of the children up to 5 years of age is a significant measure aiming at healthy growing up and the prevention of development of later health problems with the children.
• Law on amendments to the Law on Spatial Development and Construction is a law that aims at governing this field in which there is a doubt concerning bad working conditions, informal employment, and fictional companies that realistically do not meet the requirements for taking over serious jobs.
• The information on granted cash assistance to the undeveloped and extremely undeveloped municipalities is a continuous process that tries to bring the level of development in most needy municipalities to a higher level, while making sure that local governance and the life in the local community do not stop their functioning.
• Energy development strategy by 2030 is very important as this is a resource that is first raised as one of the possibilities speaking of attracting foreign investments. However, there are a lot of cooperation agreements signed, hundreds of millions KM-worth projects are being ‘operated with’ without however any serious investments taking place so far.  
• Strategy of Development of Forestry is a very important measure, which raised big debates by the MPs in the discussion itself, as the representatives of the opposition were unclear about a possibility to have a loss in this field. The bottom line is that woods as a resource has been sold at very low prices so far, that there were different speculations in the public around the operations of “Sume”. All these speculations culminated and were confirmed when on 16 August the director of PC “Sume Srpske”, Srdjan Ljubojevic, was arrested for bribe taking. This is a resource that deserves a better and more responsible treatment from the institutions and individuals in the RS, so as to ensure achieving of better results.  
• The Strategy of Regulatory Reform and Introduction of the Process of Assessment of the Influence of the Republic of Srpska regulations for the period 2012 to 2015, prepared by the Ministry for Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation, is also an important measure from the point of view of EU integrations.  
• The Law on Social Protection was finally approved after full 8 years when it first appeared in the RS NA Work Program. The Law has been changed in a number of provisions; however, the biggest change is seen in the segment of the benefits for other people’s care and assistance. After a 19-year period of keeping the level of this assistance at 41 KM, the lawmakers increased this amount by 100%. A novelty in this fundamental law, speaking of social protection, is that the law is 50% financed from the RS Budget, while 50% is raised from allocations of the RS local communities. A problem may arise here if the municipalities that are extremely undeveloped fail to pay their part.
• Information on the situation in the field of PIO for 2011 was certainly not encouraging - apart from the fact that the pensions were paid on time, that not a single pension failed to be paid, everything else looks disastrous. The information that the lowest pension is still 160 KM, that for 6 years the pensions have not been adjusted with the salaries and the average personal income, is an evidence that the pensioners with the average pension, which is also the Republic’s average, actually became a social category – an average pension in September was sufficient for only 17.5% of the consumer basket. The reform of PIO and of a set of the laws in this area produced only minimum results, because based on the Economic Policy for 2013 and the RS Budget for 2013, adjustment of the pensions with the salaries was envisaged. Some progress was after all made, although minimal.
• The law awarding the status of a city to previous municipalities is especially important from the point of view of Trebinje, Bijeljina, Prijedor and Doboj. This status obliges the municipalities in terms of their further development of capacities.
• - Law on Protection of the Environment is an effort of the RS Government that aims at strengthening the ecological capacities and raising citizens’ awareness of this field. Based on this regulation the standards are at the level of any EU country.
• Law on Protection against Family Violence is also very important as it additionally provides for the mechanisms that make sure that no family violence is tolerated.
• The re-programming of the RS Budget and the Decision on Acceptance of the Loan by the Fourth Stand-By Agreement with the IMF is important from two aspects. On the one hand, it is important for the authorities representatives to use the loans to ensure the mechanisms of financial management of the relevant RS bodies, as well as to ensure material allocations to the beneficiaries of these funds. On the other hand, an issue is raised as to how these loans would be repaid, having in mind that the authorities rely more and more on them, which in turn, according to many reputable economic analysts, leads them to debt bondage.  
• Information about the obligations arising for BiH from the process of association with the EU with a review of implemented measures and activities, and accomplished results in approaching of the RS regulations to the EU regulations in 2011, is a significant measure. The Ministry of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation has had excellent results, but there is still an evident problem because not enough efforts are put at the state level on meeting obligations, for which the ruling political structures in the RS have a big responsibility  - because something that is well received at the level of the RS has completely different treatment at the level of BiH.
• The Employment Action Plan is a significant measure that should be supported by the entire RS Government – the Ministry of Labour cannot be the only one who is responsible for unemployment.
  

Attendance at sessions of the Government of the Republic of Srpska, of prime minister and ministers

The President of the Republic of Srpska Government and ministers did not have extensive amplitudes relating to the attendance at the sessions of the RS Government, the representation was good in the entire year of 2012.

Implementation of the Work Program in legislative sense of the RS Government in 2012
In 2012, The Republic of Srpska Government passed 60 bills out of 78 which were planned in the Government’s Work Program of 2012, for implementation during this year or 76.9% of total planned laws.

In 2012, the Ministry of Finance implemented 64% of plans in this year, but it implemented 9 planned laws, i.e. the maximum in the present Government, during this period. On the other hand, the Ministry of Science and Technology did not plan any laws in this year, whereas the Ministry of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation planned and implemented 1 law during the last trimester.

The worst realisation is registered in the Ministry of Health, as low as 20% of the annual plan, i.e. they implemented only 1 out of 5 laws whose implementation was envisaged for this year. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare achieved these results by 30 September 2012; nothing changed by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Education and Culture implemented only 50% in a sample of only 4 laws; the Ministry of Transport and Communications registers the same implementation, with implemented 3 out of 6 laws planned in 2012.

As many as 8 Ministries have 100% implementation of the planned laws, but out of these Ministries, 5 Ministries planned at most 2 laws. The Ministries that have not a 100% implementation are the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, which planned 8 laws, then the Ministry of Administration with 6 planned laws  and the Ministry of Justice with 5 planned laws.

The Ministry of Labour has achieved a 75% implementation in a sample of 4 planned laws, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology has a 83.3% implementation in a sample of 6 planned laws, whereas the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management has a 77.7% implementation in a sample of 9 planned laws.

Unplanned laws

In 2012, the Government approved a total of as many as 37 unplanned laws. Out of these, 26 in a proposal form, and 11 in a draft form. The majority of such laws, which might be natural in a year of extensive economic crisis, comes from the Ministry of Finance that approved 16 unplanned laws, then the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-governance with 10 laws.

Relation between the RS Government and RS NA

In 2012, the RSNA planned to approve 81 laws. Out of these 81, the Government approved and submitted to parliamentary procedure 54. Three laws were withdrawn by the proponent from the procedure before the Assembly decided on them. The final result is that out of 81 envisaged laws, 43 laws were approved (53% of the annual plan), and 11 more accepted in a draft form. As many as 33% of the laws envisaged by the RS NA for adoption in 2012 were not given to MPs in any form in 2012. Except for the laws envisaged in the Work Program, the RS Government approved 37 more unplanned laws, 26 in form of a proposal and 11 in form of a draft. By the end of 2012, the NA approved 23 bills more, and 3 bills were accepted in a draft form.

All laws, except for the RS President-proposed Law on Ombudsperson, which were considered by the RS NA were a product of the RS Government work.

The attendance of RS Government Ministers at the Assembly is in line with the Rules of Procedure; it can be stated that the RS Government President very rarely attended the sessions of the NA. The opposition frequently objects that the RS Government President was not present when significant issues were discussed; in this way actually avoiding confrontation with their arguments.

As an example of a responsible Ministry, we point out the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs, which presents their quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports very diligently. On the other hand, some ministries have been utterly unserious in comprehending the significance of the Assembly; thus certain reports and plans happen to reach the MPs when any serious debate on these acts is irrational.

In 2012, the MPs raised a total of 355 questions, and the only ministry to which no question was raised was the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The majority of the questions were directed to the RS Government President - 71. The Ministry of Labour received 38 questions, the Ministry of Transport and Communications received 34 questions, the Ministry of Industry received 32 questions, the Ministry of Finance 29 questions, the Ministry of Education received 26 questions, the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs received 21 questions, the Ministry of Agriculture received 25 questions, the Ministry of Health received 15 questions, the Ministry of Administration received 10 questions, the Ministry of Justice received 10 questions, the Ministry of Civil Engineering also received 10 question, 9 questions were directed to the Ministry of Trade, 4 questions were sent to the Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons, the Ministry of Economic Relations received  3 questions and 2 questions were sent to the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports.

Transparency of the RS Government

This is a field that should and must be improved by the RS Government in line with practice of the neighbouring states, but also within BiH itself, where the BiH Parliamentary Assembly leads by an example, and this year the RS NA also uploads minutes and reports to its website. It is unacceptable that the MPs do not have clear information about the accounts of the RS Government.

Government’s Work Program and RS Budget

The RS Government’s Work Program was once more delayed in approval; this practice

repeats without serious polemics in the public. Plans are less and less ambitious, there is a lack in significant results again, and citizens’ life is not improving.
The Budget of this is yet again sustainable by aid of the IMF funds, and the Budget has been again amended, exclusively in order to enable new loans from the IMF. The Budget is not developmental.

The RS Government improved financial discipline and has no more negative Reports by the Supreme Office for the Republic of Srpska Public Sector Auditing.

Current news

The RS Government presided by RS Government President Aleksandar Dzombic is an outgoing government after the request of the RS President and after a session of the RS NA in which this decision was confirmed. A mandatary for a new RS Government is current Minister of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation Zeljka Cvijanovic. The new RS Government will undergo the changes as follow: RS Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Trade and Tourism and the Ministry of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation.

With the campaign “Share a Half of Your Luck” CCI continues its work of many years on improvement of the legislative framework addressing the organization of games of chance. The aim is for a part of the receipts, collected in the budget from the games of changes, to be directed to humanitarian, social and development projects and programs, which is a practice of all the countries from the region and most EU countries.  With this campaign, CCI started an initiative for adoption of the new Law on Games of Chance in BH Federation. The project is supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy.  More…

From an original idea to use the receipts from games of chance to directly finance the needs of disabled persons, back in 2010 and 2011, new legal solutions were adopted in practice, whereby in both BH entities 50% of income received in the entities’ budgets from BH Lottery and RS Lottery, based on organizing games of chance, is used to finance the neediest population categories. These funds are used solely for medical treatment of children suffering from severe diseases, protection of abuse victims, pedophilia and mendicancy, then the needs of the disabled persons, for fighting against drugs and addition, shelter for the victims of torture and violence, for the work of soup kitchens, and for the support to amateur sport and technical culture.      

As 50% of income collected from the games of chance is used as humanitarian, social and development support, the motto of the campaign was “Share a Half of Your Luck”.

At the end of 2012, CCI started an initiative for passing of the new Law on Games of Chance in BH Federation, which would cover all organizers of games of chance, so that more funds could be raised for the above-mentioned needs. A suggestion was made to FBiH Government and Parliament to make sure that the Work Program for 2013 envisages passing of the new law on games of chance – so that as early as at the beginning of 2013 the working material of the Law was completed. This should enable CCI to, in cooperation with the relevant federal Ministry, beneficiaries’ organizations, institutions and the media, advocate passing of the Law already in the first half of 2013, so that the necessary funds can reach the end users by the end of the year.

As part of the training of the component Civil Advocacy Partnership Programme – CAPP II, an organized study tour to Slovakia was arranged for the representatives of a number of BH NGOs, in order to provide new knowledge in the fields relevant for their both current and future positions in the organizations in which they work (watch-dog, public advocacy, legislative and other campaigns, anti-corruption, public policies and good governance), share experience with similar NGOs in Slovakia and understand the differences in the possibility of financing NGOs during the period of accession to the European Union and in the post-accession period. We have singled out a few meetings. More...

During the visit, meetings were organized with the representatives of Transparency International of Slovakia (TIS).  A strategy for fighting corruption is one of the most important TIS activities and is based on a close dialogue of the partners from the private sector, civil society and public sector. Having said that, TIS aspires toward the cooperation with all the relevant stakeholders, in order to achieve its goal, which is advocacy for introduction and application of anti-corruption measures and increase of transparency in the public sector. Having in mind that anti-corruption fight is long-lasting process, TIS tries to ensure legitimacy and the necessary level of democracy of all the processes that it deals with. In all these processes, TIS works with a big number of collaborators and 'allies' from different fields: mostly with schools, universities, media, experts, other NGOs, young people, as well as with international organizations. However, in order for some system measures to be proposed to official institutions, TIS also requests cooperation with the government, parliament and political parties – both with the representatives in the 'position' and in the opposition.

Representatives of the organization Via Iuris presented their work and showed to the guest that their work related mainly to the assistance to citizens to protect their rights and to participate in decision-making processes as part of public affairs. Their main goal is to contribute to a more responsible and efficient functioning of the authorities bodies at the state and local levels, as well as to participate in the reform of the Slovak judiciary. Special attention is paid to highlighting the instances of human rights violations, offences and the lack of transparency in the system. They also informed us that this organization was made of experts who cooperate with legal experts the most, who in their work mainly use the legal tools, i.e. preparation and application of legal amendments, who work on implementation of the analyses, offer legal consultations and representation of clients in specific cases, organize professional conferences and informal education, and manage a website under the name Open Law on which discussions take place.

This year too, the public events under the name Responsibility Forum will be organized by the Centres for Civic Initiatives, as part of the project Local Administration for Quality of Citizens' Life – phase 2. They will be financed by the European Union, and carried out in cooperation with the mayors of BH municipalities and towns covered by the project.  The goal of these public events is to invite the mayors to be accountable for the promises they made and the projects planned during the last year, and to present the work plan for the current year. The first 3 forums in 2013 were organized with the partner on Project DC Nove nade Foča, in Municipalities Pale, Foča and Novo Sarajevo. More...

 In the chock-full hall of MA Pale, the newly elected Municipal mayor Miodrag Kovačević, presented the plans of municipal administration for the year 2013, concerning the electronic business, feasibility study for dislocation of the heating plant, plans on development of the square around the Minster (Central Church), waterworks projects, „Health center Pale“ certification process, incentives to agriculture, decreasing public consumption and other topical issues. The moderator at the event, the local journalist Radan Škipina, who is well informed about the local issues, reminded the mayor of his program goals and promises made in 2012 pre-election campaign, as well as of previous mayor's work plans in 2012 and of the results that were achieved or not. Although he comes from the same political party, a new mayor expressed some reservation about his predecessor's projects, and stressed that now there were earmarked funds in the budget for investments in economy and agriculture, and that a number of meetings were held with local businessmen in order to join forces in trying to employ as many people as possible. Forum visitors/participants, about 60 of them, were given the answers to all the questions from various spheres of life, such as employment, social policy, construction, infrastructure questions, and the questions that are not in the domain of the local governance, such as the problem with the bankruptcy of “Famos“ Factory.

The Forum in Foča was attended by about 80 people, and the newly elected mayor of Foča, Radisav Mašić, devoted a big part of his discussion to the steps taken by the local self-governance on improvement of communication with the RS Government, and on reduction of public consumption and making other savings. The activities undertaken aimed at decreasing the expenses of making phone calls, using official cars and of office supplies. Without waiting for the moderator’s questions, Mašić himself reminded of his program goals in the previous elections. The circular town bus line has been introduced. Funds for the investments in economy and industry have been allocated in the budget. Also, a number of meetings with local businessmen were held in order to try to join forces to employ as many people as possible. It was stressed that employment was a crucial problem of this municipality. After the mayor's introductory presentation, citizens were able to ask many questions from within the local administration jurisdiction, employment, starting agricultural production, utility services and other areas of life quality.

New-old mayor of Novo Sarajevo Municipality, Mr. Nedžad Koldžo, a shrewd politician and able speaker, found it very hard to keep pace with the event moderator, a journalist from Sarajevo Sanel Hadžić, who did all he could to bring the mayor back on the local administration topics and citizens' everyday problems. Namely, Koldžo's presentation diverted at times from local subjects, as he was trying to pass the blame for things on canton and cantonal competences, and tried to speak about the issues concerning the law on local self-governance, etc. After the mayor's statement that about 85% of the plan had been realized in 2012, a concrete question was asked about the key capital investment in this municipality – a sports hall, for the completion of which a deadline was missed a long time ago. The mayor promised that the hall would be made operational by the end of this year.  Nothing else is left for the citizens of both this and other municipalities than to ask questions to their mayors again, at the forums that will be organized at the end of the year, and hold them accountable for the promises they made and for the project they planned for 2012.
CCI technical team made a professional video recording of all the forums, which will be available to the citizens who did not participate in the events via CCI youtube channel and Inicijativa TV Internet television. The next forums will take place in the municipalities of Travnik, Bijeljina and Bihać, and are expected to be held in the remaining 8 target municipalities of the Project.

Responsibility Forum, part of the atmosphere from Pale municipality.

An initiative for amendments to the law on local self-governance in both BH entities was made by CCI. Strengthening citizens’ participation mechanisms in decision-making process in BiH is in the focus of this initiative. These activities are undertaken as part of the project ’New local communities for better local governance’ financially supported by the Delegation of the European Commission in BiH. More...

Through the project ’New local Communities for the New Authorities in BiH“, CCI and a partner organization DON from Prijedor, with the support of over 50 NGOs from throughout BiH, designed a juristic form of the proposed amendments to the law on local self-governance in both BH entities which, among others, defines the role of a local community. The Initiative was finalized after a broad public hearing with stakeholders, representatives of municipalities, ministries, local communities, non-governmental organizations and with the help of experts; it was then submitted to competent ministries. By accepting this Initiative by the authorities, an expected result will be achieved that will provide an answer to the questions constantly asked by the citizens, civil society and analysts regarding insufficient engagement of BH authorities on making the existing citizens’ participation mechanisms in BiH (and primarily their participation through LCs) more efficient and more responsive to citizens’ interests. BH authorities will make a step forward in adjusting BH legal framework with the European Charter on Local Self-Governance (which is one of the mandatory areas for BiH), one of the key principles of which is that the citizens should be provided services from the level of the authorities that is the closest to them. Also, a step forward will be made in the field of decentralization of BH authorities, which is also one of the key principles of modern and EU-required principles. So far we have had positive signals in both competent entities’ ministries, i.e. more specifically, after a number of meetings with the Federal justice minister Zoran Mikulic and his collaborators, the Federal Justice Ministry formed a Working Group for the amendments to the Law on Principles of Local Self-Governance in FBiH. In addition to the representatives of the Union of Municipalities and Towns of FBiH, the Federal Justice Ministry and representatives of the commission for local self-governance of both Federal Parliament houses, a representative of CCI is also a member of the Working Group. The RS Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Governance undertook to, before submitting the Law on Local Self-Governance, incorporate the CCIs’ recommendations that are mainly focused on strengthening the citizens’ participation in local decision-making processes through LCs. In addition to the above, a number of meetings were held by CCI with mayors, councilors, LC and NGOs’ representatives. We also held presentations on the proposed solutions to the citizens and asked them to support the amendments to the municipal by-laws, and the amendments to the entities’ laws on local self-governance.
 
In order to provide the citizens with as much information as possible, and in order for the experts and professionals in the field of local self-governance to be able to efficiently communicate the subjects relating to the citizens’ participation and decision-making processes at the local level, we regularly update the established communication channels. At www.novamz.ba, www.facebook.com/novamz and www.twitter.com/NovaMZ1, you can find useful information, ask questions, take an active part in improvement of local self-governance in BiH and find useful links.

Reports published on the application of adopted citizens’ participation mechanisms for the year 2012, for four Municipalities. Project Development and Application Team starts the implementation of ‘mini projects’ in the Birac area. Carrying out the project activities in the Municipalities of Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vlasenica and Milići, in which a component “Citizens’ Participation in Decision-Making Processes” as part of the project “Reconciliation and Development of Communities at Birac Region 2011 – 2013” is implemented by CCI, CCI published the Reports on Monitoring the Application of Decisions.  CCI’s partners on this project are CARITAS and Association of Women Priroda; the project is financed with the support of the Swiss Government (Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency) and the Lichtenstein Government. More…

CCI made reports for all 4 municipalities on monitoring the application of decisions in the year 2012 and presented them during January 2013. Reports established that the existing mechanisms of citizens’ participation were largely applied, and that Srebrenica and Bratunac Municipalities made a significant progress in application of these mechanisms compared to two previous years. In the first year of monitoring, after approval of new decisions on participation at the end of 2011, a consistent application of newly-adopted mechanisms was started in the last year by the Municipalities Vlasenica and Milići.

In CCI’s recommendations for the improvement of citizens’ participation mechanisms in decision-making processes, it was suggested that all 4 municipalities made necessary efforts to make the process sustainable, in view of consistent application of adopted mechanisms. To this end CCI started training with the selected partner organizations in Srebrenica, i.e. „Prijatelji Srebrenice“ and in Bratunac with Association of Women ’Priroda“, so as to delegate the responsibility of the project, i.e. of monitoring the application of the decisions after the expiry of this stage of CARITAS project, after 31 December 2013. In Vlasenica and Milići Municipalities, upon completion of the training and by the end of the year, these activities will be passed on to the Working Development Groups that were previously made of the representatives of the municipalities and Local Communities, with whom CCI initiated the adoption of these new mechanisms in these two municipalities.

CCI was engaged to offer support during the period 1 October 2007 – 31 December 2013, while working with the representatives of Local Communities (LCs) and with the relevant members of local authorities of the municipalities, in order to ensure adoption and implementation of the Decisions related to citizens’ participation and work transparency at the local level.

CCI participated at the conference „Good Governance in Montenegro“, organised by the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) Montenegro. This was a good opportunity to present CCI's experiences on the work of minitoring processes in BiH over governments and parliaments.  More...

The conference was held on  February 27 2013 in Podgorica Montenegro.
The introductory panel discussion of the conference was dedicated to the concept of open government in Montenegro. This concept was discussed by the following distinguished panelist: H.E. Aleksandar Pejović, State Secretary for Eropean Integration and Chief Negotiator for Negotiations on Accession of Montenegro to the European Union; H.E. Sue K. Brown, U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro;  as well as H.E. Rastislav Vrbenski, UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro. The moderator of the conference was the Executive Director of CDT, Mr. Dragan Koprivica.

The second panel discussion was dedicated to good governance in public administration, which was discussed by Mr. Vuk Vujnović, Head of the Public Relations Office of the Government of Montenegro; Ms.  Nives Miošić - Lisjak, NGO  GONG – Croatia; Mr. Aleksandar Mašković, NGO MANS – Montenegro; as well as by Mr. Đorđije Brkuljan, Program Coordinator at CDT.  

The third panel discussion was dedicated to the concept of open parliament, which was discussed by Mr. Damir Davidović, Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegro; Ms. Ana Ponoš, MP (Parliament of Montenegro); Ms. Jovana Marović, NGO Institut alternativa - Montenegro; Ms. Dubravka Grčić - NGO CRTA – Serbia; as well as by Ms. Ivana Ćavar from CCI.

Guests at the conference were directors of state institutes, directorates, agencies etc., as well as representatives of various state ministries, the Parliament of Montenegro, international organizations and civil society members.  
The conference was held in the framework of the DURBIN project (Good Governance – Better Institutions), which is implemented by CDT and which deals with one of the key challenges to the democratization in Montenegro – establishing a good state level governance system. The overall goal of the project is to contribute to transparency, accountability and efficiency of state administration in Montenegro. The project is supported by USAID.

CCI made a presentation of the „transparency“ of the B&H parliaments in general, but we also used this opportunity to present our two websites, which, among other things, aim at increasing transparency of governments and parliaments in B&H and improving communication between citizens and MPs: www.vlastibih.com  and  www.virtualniparlament.ba .

All the participants were amazed by both websites but also by the amount of data that CCI collects and distributes to the public through these websites.
One peculiarity of the conference was the usage of social networks in promoting one`s activities. CDT had put up a „tweet wall“ at the conference, where all the participants could follow live tweets of the Twitter community. CCI`s presentation at the conference was well accepted by Twitter users, which is visible from the various positive comments at the tweet wall of the conference.

Through the implementation of the new project “Improvement of the Efficiency of Employment Institutions – More Employment Opportunities and Working Rights in BiH”, CCI carries on with the activities that started a while ago, in the field of reform of the employment policies and fighting unemployment.

At the end of 2012, the Delegation of the European Union gave a grant to CCI for the implementation of the project which aims at CCI’s contribution to structural employment policies’ reforms, efficient work of the employment institutes and bureaus in BiH and their more transparent, responsible and participatory work and relation toward the public.

The implementation of a new CCI project under the name 'Budget' started. This project will contribute to better understanding of the budgetary policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and simplifying the budgeting process so as to make more it understandable to the public and citizens. The project is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in BiH. More…

Another goal of the project is to suggest and support relevant and efficient measures for improvement of budgeting the public policies, increasing the budgeting process transparency and participation in the process of budget drafting at all levels of authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  At an early stage of the project, CCI is conducting an analysis of budget policies and the budgets at all four authorities levels, in order to adequately present to the public the financial structure of the budget and address the noticed anomalies through a set of recommendations to be advocated by CCI in course of the project. Also, we intend to suggest and advocate relevant and effective proposals for the improvement of public budgeting polices at al levels of administration and in both entities. The law and the budgets that will be the primary subjects of the analysis include: BiH, RS, FBiH, Sarajevo Canton, as well as three local budgets: Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar.  All project results, in addition to the usual channels, will also be presented on a website that will be launched in the first half of 2013.