CVIJANOVIĆ: BEĆIROVIĆ AND KOMŠIĆ CREATED SPACE FOR SCHMIDT’S ANTI-DAYTON ACROBATICS

EAST SARAJEVO, August 19 /SRNA/ - The Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović stated that the budget adopted by Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić is so distorted, unprofessional, and reckless that it is obvious it was drafted by those who never dealt with budgeting.

"Komšić and Bećirović blocked for months the adoption of the budget submitted by the Council of Ministers, justifying it with false excuses such as the so-called 'Viaduct'. In reality, they were only creating space for the illegal and anti-Dayton acrobatics of Christian Schmidt, only to now present this flawed proposal as some sort of initiative," Cvijanović emphasized. She pointed out that Komšić had, on two occasions this year and in the past two years as well, refused to support the budget, only to suddenly decide to do so now. "It is clear that the ground is being prepared for yet another illegal and unconstitutional intervention by Schmidt, given the unfeasibility of this budget, its uncertain fate in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, and the numerous technical and financial flaws it contains. This budget is woven from lawlessness and unworkable provisions, and the fact that it was praised by the deputy minister of finance and treasury only proves the level of incompetence," Cvijanović said. She underlined that the proponents of the budget act like Santa Clauses, distributing money arbitrarily and without justification to institutions - including some that are not even legally recognized as budget beneficiaries and, absurdly, granting certain institutions more funds than they themselves had requested. "In their initial proposal, they even forgot to include the salary increase for employees in the institutions, and only rushed to correct that after Minister Srđan Amidžić publicly pointed it out. The very same Amidžić whom they first tried to disgracefully blame for their own obstruction, only to then task his ministry with harmonizing and fixing their blunders, knowing well that this budget is unworkable," Cvijanović stressed. Although they initially forgot about raising salaries for employees, she added, Bećirović and Komšić did not forget to allocate an additional BAM 28 million for the Ministry of Defense, so that Zukan Helez could pursue his plans for strengthening cooperation with Iran and its defense industry. Moreover, she said, it is clear that these funds will not even be possible to spend, given the deadlines and the amounts in question. "All in all, of course I did not want to participate in adopting such a deficient budget, which should be a serious document, not a mere political platform as this one is," Cvijanović concluded.