A joint session of both chambers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity’s Parliament, which should harmonize the final version of the Law on Rights of Veterans, is still uncertain, said lawmaker Jasmin Kadic, a member of the FBiH House of Representatives (HoR).

In an interview for N1, Kadic explained that a session of a commission in charge of harmonizing the text of the laws and amendments adopted by the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives was held on Monday but the joint session to confirm the harmonized version has not been scheduled.

“The annual leaves officially start tomorrow, all MPs should be away for a month but it doesn’t have to be like that. According to the rules of procedure of both chambers, the session can be scheduled in the eighth month, tomorrow, the next week, and it remains to be seen if this is an attempt to buy time,” said Kadic.

The FBiH HoP adopted that Draft Law on the Rights of Veterans and Members of their Families in the form adopted by the FBiH Government, while the FBiH House of Representatives adopted a different version whose amendments were approved neither by the HoP nor the Government.

Veterans staged a protest during the FBiH HoP session last week, exerting pressure on the MPs and demanding their requests – publication of the single veterans’ registry, veterans’ disability allowance and the abolition of the financing of the veterans’ association – to be adopted. Their demands were met.

Kadic pointed out the differences between the amendments adopted by the two chambers, which include the amount of the veterans’ allowance, their categorisation, etc. In his opinion, it was a bad thing that a commission decided on something that the chambers were supposed to do – to harmonize the amendments.

“All amendments were taken in consideration and we will see once the final text is delivered what are the results of that harmonized text. (…) All demands of the veterans were met regarding the publication of the registry and the veterans’ allowance,” added Kadic.