Representatives in the FBiH Parliament submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina a request for an evaluation of the constitutionality of disputed provisions of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO). The Court was also asked to issue an urgent temporary measure to prevent irreparable damage to pensioners.
The constitutional review was initiated by representatives Almedin Aliefendić and Admir Čavalić, and they were supported by representative Alma Kratina, representatives of DF and SDA, as well as a representative of HRS. As the initiators point out, they owe special thanks to the lawyers who spared their valuable time and expertly prepared this request.
The request refers to the evaluation of the constitutionality of Article 81 of the Law on PIO, as well as Article 13 of the Law on Amendments to that Law, which the applicants consider to be in direct conflict with the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As the applicants point out, the guaranteed pension represents an existential minimum that the state must provide so that pensioners can meet basic life needs and live with dignity.
“Denying that right to old-age pensioners with less than 40 years of service means knowingly leaving them on minimum incomes, which in practice do not even provide basic living conditions. This further puts this category in a state of permanent social vulnerability”, say the representatives.
The essence of the problem lies in the fact that changes to the law retroactively change the rules for exercising rights from pension and disability insurance. Because of this, citizens, who have been in one legal regime for years, are now placed in an unequal and legally insecure position.
The representatives warn that it is particularly unacceptable that the conditions are subsequently changed to the detriment of people who rightfully expected to exercise their right to a minimum, or guaranteed, pension.
“The disputed provisions directly affect persons who have reached the age of 65 and do not have 40 years of service. They are putting them in a situation where they lose the possibility of exercising the rights they could have expected according to the previous legal framework. In this way, the principles of equality before the law, legal security and the protection of acquired and legitimately expected rights of citizens are being grossly violated,” the request explains.
Due to the danger of serious consequences, the Constitutional Court of FBiH was requested to adopt a temporary measure that would suspend the application of the disputed provisions until the final decision of the Court.
The initiators believe that the continued application of this law could cause irreparable damage to a large number of citizens whose existence depends exclusively on the pension system.
“If the law were to continue to be applied, and was later declared unconstitutional, the consequences for the affected citizens in a large number of cases could not be completely removed”, warn the representatives and add that they expect the Constitutional Court to act urgently and protect the legal security of FBiH citizens.
“The state must protect the dignity of pensioners, and not put them in a situation where they are left without a minimum living wage,” they said at the end, it says Klix.
