BiH Parliamentary Assembly Must Reverse Move Extending Salary Payments for Former Delegates

The OHR calls on elected delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reverse an administrative manoeuvre that leaves former parliamentarians much better off than the rest of the population.

In July, delegates in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina attempted to enact a law on the Rights and Duties of Parliamentarians giving them more generous pension and other welfare benefits than the rest of the population. This generated an outpouring of public scorn and disapproval with the result that the Law was not passed.

One element in the July legislation was a proposed extension, from six months to twelve months, of the period during which former MPs, who have either voluntarily retired from parliament or have been voted out of office, continue to draw their full parliamentary salary.

At the end of September, the Administrative Committee of the BiH House of Representatives and the Administrative and Finance Committee of the BiH House of People unilaterally reinstated this provision, effective immediately.

This means that while hundreds of thousands of this country’s citizens have to endure hardship because of unemployment and poverty, former MPs enjoy full pay for a year even though they have no duties to perform.

This unilateral decision by administrative committees to reinstate a provision that was struck down by the full Parliamentary Assembly and which favours the material interests of parliamentarians over the interests of their constituents, should be rescinded.