At the session of the Presidency of the Assembly of the Federation of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of BiH (SOGFBiH), which was held today in Sarajevo, a number of issues of importance for the work of local self-government were discussed.
The director of the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of BiH, Vesna Travljanin, stated after the session that, above all, the solutions they are working on in the field of legislation – legal solutions and by-laws on which their professional services, i.e. commissions, are actively working – were considered.
“The Presidency adopted those reports, but what is the final conclusion that will be submitted to the Government and the relevant ministries is better cooperation with the Government and ministries and the legislative authority, with the aim that our solutions, that is, proposals, will be delivered to the decision-makers,” said Travljanin.
She particularly emphasized the digitalization process of municipalities and cities, their services that they provide to the membership.
She thanked the Agency for Identification Documents, Records and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEEA), which is already actively working in many municipalities.
“Today, the possibility was presented to transfer the activities that this Agency works on to other municipalities and cities. It is inevitable that digitization is important for municipalities and cities, i.e. citizens, and we will actively work on that. Also, there is the Law on Public Procurement, which will be harmonized for the entire territory of BiH”, stated Travljanin.
She added that the president of the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave a report from the conference in Strasbourg – the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
Current issues were also discussed, as well as internal acts, such as the Report on the work of the Association, the Financial Report for the past year, and the Work Plan for the next year.
The President of the Assembly of the Union of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenan Dautović, said that at today’s session, they discussed a lot of important issues, but he highlighted two.
“Based on the meetings with the Commission for Local Self-Government of the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we decided to send a request that will contain perhaps the most important matter for us, which is to ask the next Government of the Federation, or the next convocation of the Parliament, to activate the Ministry for Local Self-Government in the Government of the Federation. We think that this is the key to all our problems, that we have someone who will think about our problems 24 hours a day,” said Dautović.
He added that the other two conclusions are related to the non-harmonization of regulations, where all these laws are, each on their own, a lex specialis and each competent ministry is called upon to be the true interpreter of that law, so that we have a conflict in terms of competence as to who is responsible for the systematization of municipalities and cities, that is, who is the one who passes the budget in the event that there are certain tensions, that the Municipal Council and the mayor or chief cannot come to an agreement, he says Klix.
“We also supported our colleagues in Sarajevo Canton who are, in some way, discriminated against in the distribution of funds that currently belong to them. Another important moment is that, at the session of the Congress of Regions and Local Communities in Strasbourg, we entered into a project called “Local Observatory for the Implementation of the Reform Agenda”. Together with the European Union and the Council of Europe, we will enter into that project, which aims at the participation of the local community in the reform agenda, in the reform program, which is extremely important for us. bearing in mind that currently our voice from the local level is not heard enough”, said Dautović.
