Alen Zulic, a councilor in the City Council of Bihac, has been appointed as the acting director of the public company Una National Park without a public competition, in clear violation of the law, according to Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH).

The Law on Conflict of Interest in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) prohibits elected officials from being appointed to management positions in public companies. Despite this, the FBiH government approved the decision of the Supervisory Board of Una National Park to appoint Zulic to the position of acting director in April 2024.

TI BiH raised concerns with the FBiH government and the Supervisory Board, highlighting that this appointment violates the law. The Supervisory Board claimed they were unaware of the legal requirements, and Zulic was informed about the conflict of interest only after assuming the position.

TI BiH also contacted the City Council of Bihac, which confirmed that Zulic notified the council two months after his appointment. The Central Election Commission accepted his resignation from the council, but this did not resolve the issue, as the law requires a six-month gap between holding an elected position and being appointed to a public company.

The lack of a functioning body to enforce conflict of interest regulations since 2013 has allowed such appointments to go unchecked in FBiH. Despite promises to address these issues, the current government withdrew relevant laws from parliamentary procedure, leaving the conflict of interest regulations unenforced, a key EU priority for Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to TI BiH.