Member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Pensioners of FBiH Mustafa Trakić says that he did not receive feedback from the Government of the Federation of BiH, more precisely the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, whether the Office for Legislation, the Federal Ministry of Finance gave an opinion on the amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance prepared by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
Increase of pensions by a total of 17 percent
Pensioners requested that when amending the Law on PIO, priority should be given to changes in parameters for harmonizing pensions, so instead of gross domestic product and the consumer price index, 40 percent of the growth of the average salary in FBiH and 60 percent of the growth of the consumer price index were introduced as parameters. Based on this, a total increase of pensions by some 17 percent can be expected in the coming year.
The first increase would be on January 1, and the second on July 1.
The drastic changes to Article 81 of the Law on PIO, for which the Ministry stated in its explanation that they changed it at the written request of the representatives of pensioners in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, attracted special public attention.
The changes, among other things, state that for 15 years of pensionable service and more, and less than 20 years, the pension cannot be lower than 60 percent of the average pension paid for December of the previous year. According to the current parameters, it is about 390 KM.
– The conclusion from the Board of Directors of the Association of Pensioners of FBiH, held on October 9 in Fojnica, regarding the amendments to Article 81 of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, is that we said that this was not our request, but that we supported the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the effort that the lowest pension, which is now 599.28 KM, can no longer be the same for those who worked and paid contributions for 40 years of service and to the one who worked for 15 years. And how the ministry will do it now, we don’t know, and of course we are against the pension being 390 KM. Now it is up to the workers, trade unions and employers to fight for their rights – emphasized Trakić.
We are fighting for the lowest pension to be above 600 KM
He says that he does not yet have information on whether the Office for Legislation and the Federal Ministry of Finance have given an opinion on the proposed changes to the Law on PIO.
– As a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of FBiH and as the president of the Federation of Pensioners of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, I have no feedback. I don’t know if the president of the Alliance and his deputy have that. I repeat, we do not want Article 81 to be blamed on us, that we are the initiators of its changes. Regarding the adoption of amendments to the Law and PIO, FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić said earlier that he would go to the Parliament of FBiH by abbreviated procedure. We expect that the law could go into effect in January 2026 – Trakić told us and added:
– The reason why we started to amend the Law on PIO is because the pensions are extremely small, especially the lowest pension. We are fighting to make it no longer 600 KM, those pensions are small. We said it all. They are insufficient for the life of pensioners if I know that more than 60 percent of pensioners live on the edge of poverty, on the edge of existence, he writes Factor.
