Veterans have always been treated as an electoral base and now they have been turned into a social category, political analyst Adnan Huskic told N1 regarding the protests of veterans that has resulted in the temporary blocking of several roads.
Veterans have set up camp in front of the FBiH Government building more than a year ago in an effort to pressure MPs to adopt a set of laws that would, among other things, increase their monthly benefits and end the government funding of hundreds of veterans’ associations which protesters said did nothing for them while siphoning funds from the budget that could have gone to the veterans directly.
The protesters also want a register of veterans to be published so it is available for everyone to see since they assume that many of those currently receiving government benefits never really fought during the 1992-1995 war.
The FBiH House of Peoples had adopted a draft law meeting their requirements but the text was different than the one in the draft law adopted by the House of Representatives. A commission tasked with harmonizing the two versions met last week and finalized its work. The two chambers are now expected to meet to approve the final version of the law.
Veterans wanted the sessions to take place on Tuesday, but this was not agreed on at an FBiH Parliament session on Monday, so the protesters blocked traffic on several locations in the country.
“At the very end of the war, 590 thousand veterans received certificates. People who participated in the conflicts on FBiH territory are now treated as a social category,” Huskic said.
The analyst said that there should have been requalification programmes in place which would have, in the long run, turned these veterans into productive members of society and not have them be a social category 22 years after the war has ended.
The IMF said that the law currently discussed by the parliament will jeopardize the FBiH budget and therefore its financial stability.
Huskic said he agrees with that analysis.
“No serious estimates were made. When you read through the non-harmonised Law on Veterans you can see that it is conditional, ‘if there is enough money’. This clearly shows that this is not a serious legal project, but it also shows that there is no money for what is contained in it,” he said.
Huskic said authorities are simply buying time ahead of the October election.
“They are counting on people who partly have legitimate demands to continue to use the method they use, which is the blocking of roads,” he said, adding that he thinks this is producing a counter effect as it annoys citizens.
“Veterans are intentionally fragmented into 1,600 associations in FBiH and that decreases their ability to negotiate. A huge amount of money is being channeled toward this population, but it is evident that it does not reach those it should,” he said.
“Nothing can be solved with the adoption of quick measures, as we are witnessing this right now. An attempt to annul the social discontent is what brought us into this situation,” he said, adding that, “We live from one budget to another.”
