The Government of the Federation (FBiH), Bosnia’s Croat-Bosniak part, will publish a register of veterans, but it will not be able to secure the allowances the veterans who clashed with police on Wednesday demand for more than a year already, the FBiH Veterans’ Affairs Minister, Salko Bukvarevic, told N1 on Thursday.
Veterans have set up camp in front of the Government of the semi-autonomous FBiH entity building more than a year ago in an effort to pressure MPs to adopt a set of amendments 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. The two chambers are now expected to harmonise the draft laws.
The veterans had announced a mass protest and set September 5 as a deadline for a special session dedicated to harmonise the texts.
Parliamentarians did not meet this deadline, and police on Wednesday clashed with the veterans who had staged a protest in Sarajevo’s centre, blocking traffic temporarily on the main street.
Bukvarevic told N1 that the register is now ready for nine of the ten Cantons in FBiH and that it is currently being put together for the Sarajevo Canton. The full register will be published online, he said.
‘The Government adopted the amendment, and we received that request,’ the Minister said.
‘Regarding the veterans’ allowance, we said clearly that these amendments are legally impossible to implement,’ he said.
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