News in English     | 02.01.2018. 21:57 |

Novalić: Common priority of entity governments fight against gray economy

FENA Senka Trgovčević

SARAJEVO, January 2 (FENA) - The priorities in joint activities of the governments of the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska for 2018 will be a continuation of the fight against gray economy, and as soon as possible there should be a compromise between the entities on regulating the legal framework for gas supply, said in an interview with FENA the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, saying that a temporary ban on logs export has been introduced in the framework of the struggle against gray economy, which was first introduced by RS, and was joined by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2017.

Interviewer: Senka Trgovčević

“It was a logical sequence of events, since no ban would mean that logs could have been exported via border crossings on the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is one of the important demands of our businesses and an excellent example that one entity cannot develop without the support of the other,” Novalić said.

BiH has the highest rate of gray economy in the region and it accounts for more than 25 percent of GDP. Each year, a quarter of GDP is lost due to unregistered income, unregistered employment and unregistered payments.

“Our goal is to harmonize regulations in order to eliminate all possible forms of abuse, and strengthen control and inspections, so that we direct money to our budgets, and allocate it to our citizens,” says Novalić.

Speaking about a common plan of FBiH and RS governments on combating gray economy, Novalić recalls, above all, that the FBiH Government has prepared an Action Plan with more than 100 measures, of which almost 30 are in the area of ​​inter-entity cooperation and cooperation with state-level institutions.

“A large part of them relates to the strengthening of inspection supervision. The emphasis here is on harmonization of taxation and regulations, better data exchange and the overall coordination of competent institutions. We have also anticipated several measures related to the suppression of illegal trade, such as with tobacco and logs, and more intensive quality control,” emphasized Novalić.

When deciding on the law on gas supply, Novalić says that several things have to be taken into account, above all that each entity has certain constitutional powers that must be respected.

“On the other hand, there is also the Energy Community and international legislation that also defines a good part of the demands and obligations,” said Novalić.

Considering that this issue discussed at interdepartmental level, he hopes that a compromise will be reached as soon as possible.

“We are not evading the talks on state-level laws. We are being regularly warned about possible new sanctions for failure to comply with the Law on Regulator of Electricity and Natural Gas, Transmission and Electricity Market in BiH. I know that delegating power is problematic for the colleagues in RS, but we still have to be aware that, on the path to the European Union, we will need more and more solutions at the state level. I think successful inter-entity cooperation can provide a good framework for the inevitable strengthening of cooperation at the state level,” Novalić stressed.

This year, we will continue with realization of existing projects in the field of agriculture, which are currently funded in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by numerous international institutions.

“Unfortunately, 2017 will be remembered by the inability to agree on the Rural Development Strategy, which could have brought our industry EUR 90 million over the next three years from the IPA II fund. These are the challenges that we will face on the path to the European Union more and more each day and we must find ways to resolve these inter-ethnic issues. Quality cooperation between the governments of the Federation of BiH and RS is a good starting point,” said Novalić in an interview with FENA.  

Responding to the question of whether concrete conclusions have been reached during the talks on the exploitation of non-prospective military assets for the development of both entities, Novlalić said that the governments have agreed to lift the ban on non-prospective military assets that are of public interest for both entities and must be put in function of development and job creation.

“A working group has been created to prepare concrete steps regarding this conclusion comprised of representatives of RS and FBiH ministries,” said Novalić, and noted that at the joint session of the two governments in October, they took note of the information on the status of non-prospective military assets and agreed a common position to resolve the issue in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Last year, the RS and FBiH governments held two joint sessions, one late in March in Banja Luka, and another at the beginning of October in Sarajevo.

In addition, numerous ministerial level meetings have been held, and several inter-entity working groups have been formed that are working on the preparation of harmonized legal solutions and common measures.

In an interview with FENA, Prime Minister Novalić expressed satisfaction with the work done in terms of the labor law, pointing out that it has been proven on many occasions, that numerous remarks against the Law were unnecessary politicizing.

Among the problems which we have to face, Novalić lists changes to the existing legislation that goes towards eliminating any abuse of public sector employment.

"Our goal is that no one is employed without a competition, via some internal channels, as has often been the case so far. This is a very important issue and I will insist on dealing with it, "Novalić said.

Asked about what he expects in the field of modernization of public administration, he said that the Reform Agenda has set a number of tasks related to this reform, and above all, there is an ongoing new employment moratorium which, from the outset, has brought satisfactory results.

"We will extend the moratorium in 2018," said the FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić.

 

(FENA) S. R.

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