PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Chairman of the Board of Directors of TI BiH elected

Press releases ● 29 October 2015

At the XII regular session of the Assembly of Transparency International BiH, held on October 24, 2015. in Banja Luka, Srdjan Blagovcanin was elected the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. The term of office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors is four years, and the members of the Board of Directors are Fatima Hajdarević, Aleksandra Martinović, Boris Divjak and Siniša Marković.

Presentation of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 29 October 2015

Sarajevo, 29^th October 2015. — The aim of the assessment was to conduct the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress the corruption at the local level, offering at the same time the recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which will be attended by the key actors of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo (Mayor and the Chairman of the Municipal Council, representatives of NGOs and the media) who will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo.

Presentation will be held on Friday, 30th October 2015, at 10.00h in the official premises of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo.

Press rls – 29.10.2015.

Presentation of the City of Bijeljina Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 28 October 2015

Banja Luka, 28^th October 2015 — The aim of the assessment was to conduct the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress the corruption at the local level, offering at the same time the recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the City of Bijeljina are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which shall be attended by the key actors in the City of Bijeljina (Mayor and the representatives of the Parliament, representatives of NGOs and the media) and they will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the City of Bijeljina.

Presentation will be held on Thursday, 29th October 2015, at 12.00h in the official premises of the City of Bijeljina.

Press rls 28 10 2015 eng

Conference on the conflict of interest and property records

Announcements ● 26 October 2015

Banja Luka/Sarajevo, 26^th October 2015 – The discussion at the conference will include the existing problems and obstacles to ensuring the effective supervision over the implementation of the law, putting special emphasis on the need to strengthen the independence of institutions, in order to provide objective and unbiased implementation of the law.

The conference is organized within the Project of sustainability of civil society, which is financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented within anti-corruption sector by TI BiH and the Center for investigative reporting. On this occasion, the participants of the conference will also be addressed by the mission director of USAID in BiH, Mr Peter Duffy.

The conference will be attended by the representatives of the competent institutions, such as the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, Commission for Deciding in Cases of Conflict of Interest, Central Election Commission, Personal Data Protection Agency, and representatives of the parliamentary committees and the executive authorities. It is also expected that the representatives of civil society, media and international institutions and organizations will also attend the conference.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, 27^th October 2015, at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo, at 11.00h. Please find attached the agenda. Press conference is planned to be held at 10.45h.

Press rls 26.10.2015. ENG

Presentation of the Municipality of Gracanica Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 25 October 2015

Banja Luka, 25^th October 2015 – The aim of the assessment was to analyze the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress corruption at local level, offering at the same time recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the Municipality of Gracanica are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which will be attended by the key actors in the Municipality of Gracanica (the Mayor and representatives of the Municipal Council, officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the media) who will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the Municipality of Gracanica.

Presentation will be held on Monday, 26^th October 2015, at 12.30h in the official premises of the Municipality of Gracanica.

Press rls 25.10.2015. ENG

Presentation of the study “How Bosnia’s Political Economy Holds It Back And What to Do About It”

Press releases ● 22 October 2015

The study offers an analysis of the key aspects of the way in which the government structures in BiH function, identifying the problems that prevent the country’s progress in the process of European integrations, democratization, strengthening of the rule of law and economic development. A dominant problem emphasized by this study is a political corruption and the fact that key institutions and processes in the country are used to meet the private interests.

The study also contains a set of specific recommendations, whose implementation would lead to strengthening of the institutional framework and faster implementation of reforms in the country.

The authors of the study are Boris Divjak and Srdjan Blagovcanin, and it was published by the Johns Hopkins University, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Center for Transatlantic relations (CTR).

Open letter to EU Delegation in BiH

Press releases ● 21 October 2015

Dear Ambassador Wigemark,

We are writing to you regarding the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), which undermines the basic principles of modern administration. The Law is scheduled for adoption by both Houses of the FBiH Parliament on Friday, 23 October 2015.

According to the Government of FBiH, the reasons for passing this Law are the need for “aligning its provisions with the recently adopted Labour Law” and “the need for reorganising public administration in FBiH with a view to streamlining the civil service”. However, this is just a smokescreen for the intended elimination of all categories of senior civil servants and ensuring that these positions are linked to the term of office of the managers of administrative bodies.

Even though civil society organisations have from the very outset condemned this attempt to amend the Law via urgent procedure in parliament and repeatedly appealed to the FBiH Government and FBiH Parliament to refrain from doing so, the ruling coalition and the proposers of the Law have demonstrated nothing but utter disregard for the public opinion in this matter. The governing parties have made it clear, both through the content of the proposed amendments and through the way in which the Draft Law was adopted and submitted to the parliamentary procedure, that their attention is only focused on over 200 positions that they will be able to fill with their cronies.

We are writing to you because the EU Delegation already intervened in the past regarding earlier proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Service in FBiH, and especially because this Law is being presented as part of the Reform Agenda that should bring us closer to the EU even though its provisions are entirely contrary to the EU principles and will cause damage both to BiH citizens and the EU reform efforts in BiH.

The proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Service in FBiH aim to “amputate” the most important positions in the civil service, namely those that were created with the sole intention of acting as a “heat shield” preventing unwarranted political interference, such as secretaries of institutions and assistant ministers (i.e. directors of administrative organisations). We would also like to remind you of the views of SIGMA, as well as those of the European Commission, that the civil service should be professional, which means, inter alia, that it should be competent and politically neutral. What these amendments are showing, however, is that the governing structures in FBiH have no regard for the views of the European Commission and even go so far as to cite the support of the EU Delegation to the Reform Agenda offering nothing but total ruination of public administration under the guise of public administration reform. Instead of addressing shortcomings in the existing system, the ruling coalition is dismantling the system, turning the civil service into a “political recruitment fair”.

Civil society organisations have on countless occasions in the past emphasised the need for more efficient and transparent public administration, but this process must not be misused in such a way to allow politicisation under the pretext of streamlining. We are concerned that such actions by those in power will move BiH away from the EU and discourage all potential investors in BiH, who instead of an efficient administration will get administration in which the main individual competence will be political obedience.

We are also concerned because the possible adoption of this Law will trigger an avalanche of similar moves at the cantonal and municipal levels, which will cause an even greater harm to the functioning, as well as entail additional costs to the already cumbersome public administration.

Finally, we would like to remind you that the trade unions of civil servants, who were not consulted in the drafting process, also expressed disapproval of this Draft Law and that the Office of the Government of FBiH for Legislation and Harmonisation with European Union Regulations issued an opinion that the Government of FBiH had violated procedures in the process of drafting the Draft Law, and that the proposed amendments run contrary to the principles of professional impartiality and political independence.

In the light of the foregoing, we want to believe that the Delegation of the EU will step up its efforts and show greater determination in its statements to put an end to this dismantling of the civil service. We hope that, after numerous statements about the necessity of de-politicisation of the civil service in BiH made by the European Commission officials (including in annual progress reports), the EU Delegation will not allow this blatant politicisation and capture of the civil service by the interests of political parties. Furthermore, given that the EU has invested extensive resources in the public administration reform in BiH, the reform process must not be allowed to backslide to what it was a decade ago.

We therefore appeal to the EU Delegation to seriously consider the effects of the adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service of FBiH, to do everything to put a stop to this process, and to ensure that the Law is returned to regular deliberation and passage procedure which would allow for the public debate.

Sincerely,

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina

Center for Investigative Reporting

Centers for Civic Initiatives

CPI Foundation

Open Society Fund BiH

CA Why Not

Open Letter to EU Delegation in BiH

The Draft Law on Combating Corruption, Organized and Most Serious Forms of Economic Crime of the Republic of Srpska in the service of political persecution

Press releases ● 19 October 2015

Banja Luka, 19^th October, 2015. – Today the Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska are going to receive the Draft Law on combating corruption, organized and the most serious forms of economic crime in the Republic of Srpska, aimed at creating the legal mechanisms for more efficient fight against corruption and the most serious forms of crime. The proponent is the working group of the ministry of Justice, composed of judges, prosecutors and judicial officials.

The main problem with the Draft Law is that it dramatically impinges on the basic human rights and freedoms, allowing thus prosecutorial authorities implement coercive actions which are directly contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the legal regulation in BiH governing this field. Furthermore, the proponent’s intention to include in this Law the political crimes under the guise of protecting the constitutional order is completely unacceptable. This actually makes clear the real intention of the proponent to use the provisions of this Draft Law to fight against the regime opponents, using thus anti-constitutional means.

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) submitted its comment regarding the controversial Draft Law to all parliamentary groups in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska since the proposed Draft Law is unacceptable for several reasons. First of all, in defining the competence of the Special Prosecutor’s Office the proponent predicted its responsibility for a series of so-called political crimes, such as bringing the Republic of Srpska into a subordinate or dependent position, and causing national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance, which actually deprives of any sense the basic purpose of the law enacted, and that is the more effective fight against corruption and organized crime. The Draft Law also gives excessive power to the prosecutorial investigators who will, among other things, have the right to arrest and keep a person up to 24h, but also the right to temporary restrict the movement to six hours the most. Such power, given to investigators, who would be allowed to arrest any person, i.e. “Individuals” as defined by the Draft Law, without obtaining the court warrant and the Prosecutor’s order first, represents the violation of basic human rights and freedoms and it is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is very dangerous that this Draft Law puts a number of political acts under the competence of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, since the Draft Law provides the prosecutorial investigator with the unconstitutional and undemocratic powers, which creates a legal basis for the potential political persecution or the persecution of the opponents. A Law which determines special powers and competencies in order to combat the corruption and organized crime must not be abused for political confrontations, and in this sense TI BiH urges Members of Parliament to prevent the adoption of controversial Draft Law which obviously intends to legalize the violation of human rights and freedoms.

Press rls 19.10.2015. eng

Presentation of the Brcko District Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 18 October 2015

Banja Luka/Brčko, 18^th October 2015. — Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina has made, for the first time, a detailed assessment of the integrity system (LIS assessment) in 10 units of local self-government, including the Brcko District of BiH. The assessment was done on the basis of the methodology developed by the Transparency International and tested globally.

The aim of the assessment was to analyze the efficiency of the procedures and mechanisms to improve the transparency, accountability and integrity in order to fight the corruption locally, offering at the same time the recommendations for their further improvement.

Presentations will be held on Monday, 19^th October 2015, at 12.00h in the official premises of the Brcko District Assembly.

Press rls 18.10.2015.

TI BiH School of Integrity in Trebinje

Announcements ● 15 October 2015

Banja Luka, 15th October 2015 – After having successfully completed with the School of Integrity in Travnik, the same School shall be held tomorrow in Trebinje, where the following topics shall be discussed through the method of expert lectures and two-day intensive course: The effects of corruption on economic development, Good governance and the Rule of law and the transparency and free access to information.

The School of Integrity which is being organized by Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) with the support of the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a unique place for young people to find out more about the anti-corruption topics through the lectures given by the eminent experts and practitioners. Some of the lecturers are Svetlana Cenic and Srdjan Blagovcanin who will give lectures regarding the effects of corruption on economic development, i.e. on the rule of law.

After Trebinje i Travnik, The School of Integrity will be held in Bijeljina (November) and Bihac (December) and after the lectures in the chosen cities are finished the most active students will be called to meet at the final workshop in Banja Luka. Besides, the best student essays from all cities will be published in a specially prepared publication after all lectures are given.

The School of Integrity in Trebinje will start on 16th October at 09.00h in the premises of the PIM University, Department of Trebinje, Trebinjskih brigada 3, and the students will be addressed by the Deputy Mayor of Trebinje, Nedjo Cebedzija, who will give his opinion regarding the efforts made to create and adopt the Local Self-Government Integrity Plans, the task being jointly worked on by TI BiH and the City of Trebinje.

The press conference is planned to be held at 08.45h.

To all media 15 10 2015

Warning on the abuse of the name of Transparency International and false presentations

Press releases ● 13 October 2015

According to the information provided to TI BiH, the unknown person presented himself using the identity of a TI BiH employee, asking for the meetings and certain information from the legal entities. They also illegally used the TI BiH form, usually used when filing complaint, in a faked official correspondence with the public authority. Hereby TI BiH would like to inform the public about the false representation of the organization and its employees, and emphasize that any kind of the inappropriate and unprofessional official correspondence or the illegal treatment in communication with other people, is not the way in which Transparency International works, nor it has ever worked. TI BiH informed the relevant authorities about the above mentioned events, and it will report all future similar attempts of the abuse.

Presentation of the Integrity System Assessment of the Municipality of Gorazde

Press releases ● 13 October 2015

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina has, for the first time, in 10 units of local self-government, including the Municipality of Gorazde. The assessment has been made based on the methodology developed by the Transparency International and tested globally.

The aim of the assessment was to conduct the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, liability and integrity in order to supress the corruption at the local level, offering thereby the recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the Municipality of Gorazde are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which shall be attended by the key actors in the Municipality of Gorazde (representatives of the local self-government and the Parliament, officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the media) and they will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, liability and good governance in the Municipality of Gorazde.

Presentation will be held on Wednesday, 14th October 2015, at 11.00h in the official premises of the Municipality of Gorazde.

Presentation of the Integrity System Assessment of the Municipality of Gorazde

The draft and procedure for the adoption of the FBiH Civil Service Law are also unacceptable

Press releases ● 10 October 2015

Banja Luka, 10. October 2015 – The Government of the Federation of BiH violates the procedures and carries out legal violence in the process of determining the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service, ignoring the Office of the Government of the Federation of BiH for Legislation and Compliance with EU Regulations and the Complete Public.

Namely, the Office for Legislation gave an opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service, which points out numerous shortcomings in the procedure itself, but also in the content of the Draft. Transparency International BiH has already warned that the proposed changes seek to provide even greater political influence on the selection of staff in public administration, and that the claims of the FBiH Government that they want to save and rationalize are unfounded, because it will actually put additional burden on the budget.

The opinion of the Office also states what TI BiH itself pointed out – that the proposed provisions completely undermine the “principles of professional impartiality and political independence”. It also points out the issue of the future status of executives whose proposed changes deprive them of the status of civil servants, which is not defined in the Draft, as well as how these officials will be redeployed to other positions if there are no vacancies. We remind you that TI BiH has already pointed out the fact that these changes will lead to finding 250-300 new positions in order to redeploy officials, which will produce multimillion costs and additional accumulation of the administration.

Finally, the Office for Legislation considers that this Law could not have been nominated as a draft, but as a preliminary draft, and calls into question the very procedure of its consideration and determination.

TI BiH considers it particularly worrying that the Draft Law was determined without obtaining the opinion of the Office, because the Draft was submitted only before the session of the FBiH Government. This, as well as the fact that he was sent to the Parliament by urgent procedure, additionally speaks of the intention of the Government to place these solutions at any cost, without consulting and considering their merits.

The question is in whose interest the FBiH Government is acting, if it ignores the professional public and its own procedures, and whether it is worth returning the complete public administration reform to the beginning only to further enable the recruitment of politically suitable staff.

TI BiH appeals to the FBiH Parliament to stop the controversial amendments to the Law, which not only make the role of the civil service meaningless and contradict the principles of the Public Administration Reform Strategy, but also abuse the process of its creation and referral to the parliamentary procedure.

Press rls – 10 10 2015 doc

Opinion_Civil Service Act

Politicisation of the Civil Service under the Guise of Streamlining

Press releases ● 09 October 2015

Banja Luka, 9 October 2015 – The Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service in the Federation of BiH, which was tabled for speedy deliberation and passage in parliament, threatens to completely undermine the civil service by linking the position of senior civil servants to the term of office. This will open the door for the parties in power to overtly install party-supported personnel in these positions.

The FBiH Government’s explanation that this is aimed at “aligning the provisions with the recently adopted Labour Law” and that the amendments are inter alia necessitated by “the need for the reorganisation of public administration in FBiH with a view to streamlining the civil service” is just a smokescreen for the intended elimination of all categories of senior civil servants and ensuring that these positions are linked with the term of office of the managers of administrative bodies.

This is particularly problematic given that one of the main tasks of the civil service is to ensure the smooth performance of the functions of public administration, especially when there is a change of government or where the formation of government is beset by problems.

A public administration that changes its entire management structure every four years (and without open competition procedure!) can, by no means, be efficient and expeditious. Are there any guarantees that the current senior civil servants, who, regardless of their possible political background, were recruited through an open competition procedure, will be replaced by better qualified personnel, especially if it is known that the selection of this personnel will be the exclusive responsibility of relevant ministers?

Furthermore, it remains unclear how this is going to help reduce the budget expenditures of FBiH. Given that the Draft Law will encompass some 250-300 civil servants, for whom the FBiH Government has promised to secure employment elsewhere within the civil service, it follows that this move will actually increase the number of people in public administration by about 300. Knowing their average monthly pay, it is immediately obvious that the newly created multi-million annual cost is dished up as “streamlining”. Also, a similar principle is very likely to be adopted by the cantons and municipalities, further increasing budget allocations.

The proposed amendments stand in stark contrast to the recommendations of the EU, whose Progress Reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina consistently show that there has been no improvement in recruitment procedures that would ensure the application of objective and merit-based criteria, transparency and prompt appointments to vacant positions. Granting powers to ministers and other appointed office holders to freely install loyal people in public administration positions will sever any links with transparency and merit. Furthermore, tabling the draft law for speedy deliberation and passage in parliament, circumventing the requirement of a public hearing, only goes to confirm the intention of the political parties to push an even larger number of party appointments through the back door, under the guise of streamlining.

TI BiH emphasises that the issue of efficiency of civil servants at all levels of government in BiH must be given due attention, but the problems of poor performance must be addressed by ensuring better administrative management, rather than by defeating the very purpose of public administration through its further politicisation.

Press rls – 09 10 2015_English

Initial training courses for the creation of integrity plans in BiH municipalities started

Press releases ● 08 October 2015

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) started in Kozarska Dubica (07/10/2015) and the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo (08/10/2015) the initial training course for the creation and adoption of integrity plans, i.e. anti-corruption plans aimed at the improvement of transparency and accountability in the work of additional eight units of local self-government.

This was the opportunity to present the program of the course that will be led by TI BiH experts, but also to present the project objectives and cooperation with the units of local self-government. The participants were addressed by the representatives of TI BiH and the representatives of the host municipalities and expressed their satisfaction for having been chosen as the first municipalities that will, with the help of TI BiH, be trained to make quality plans as a tool for prevention of corruption.

The units of local self-government whose representatives actively participated in the initial training course are: Istocna Ilidza, Bratunac, Centar Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Bosanska Krupa, Kozarska Dubica, Cazin and Sipovo.

All representatives of the local self-government units will be part of a one-year education program consisting of 8 modules, while at the same time, they will be working in their home governments on creation of integrity plans that will be presented to the public in late 2016.

TI BiH performs these activities in cooperation with the Agency for prevention of corruption and coordination of fight against corruption, and with the help of the Association of Local Authorities of the Republic of Srpska and Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of BiH, along with the financial support provided by the Netherlands Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Initial training courses for the creation of integrity plans in BiH municipalities started

The proposed amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of the Federation of BiH are only an interim solution

Press releases ● 08 October 2015

The amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of the Federation of BiH, which are being discussed today by the House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH, although representing a short-term improvement in terms of eliminating a two-year blockage related to the implementation of rules on conflict of interests, will not provide independent and objective implementation of the Law in the long-term sense.

In fact, the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of the Federation BiH, prescribes that this Law is also applied by the Commission for resolution of conflict of interest in BiH, comprised of the members of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and representatives of the Agency for prevention of corruption and coordination of fight against corruption. Transparency International BiH was continuously warning about the harmful effects of such composition of an organ in charge of determining and sanctioning the conflict of interest, due to the simple fact that it cannot be objective and independent if mostly comprised of the members of the Parliament, i.e. representatives of political parties. TI BiH reminds us of the fact that the European countries long time ago abandoned the practice to allow the parliamentary commissions decide on the conflict of interest, precisely because that would be a conflict of interest itself.

Although the harmonization of BiH Law with the Law on conflict of interest at state level introduces again monitoring over the implementation of this Law after two years of a complete stagnation, we must find solutions that will ensure long-term unitary and independent monitoring over the implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest at all government levels.

Considering the fact that the Law on the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and the Coordination of Fight against Corruption assigns the implementation of the Law on conflict of interest to the Agency, Transparency International BiH believes that the most efficient solution in a long run would be to expand the jurisdiction and capacities of the Agency, and to enable the Agency, by consolidating and harmonizing the regulation, to consistently apply these rules. It is also necessary, within the same process, to expand the circle of persons to whom the Law on conflict of interest is applied and to introduce more effective sanctions.

Finally, it is worrying that the official opinion of the both Houses of the FBiH Parliament regarding so important amendments to the Law will be given in two days, without leaving any opportunity for public discussion.

The proposed amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of the Federation of BiH are only an interim solution

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