The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, on Monday issued two Decisions bringing the laws on the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into line with the Constitutional amendments.
The amended legislation imposed by the High Representative will allow a new Federation government to begin working as quickly as possible on the urgent tasks facing it. The amendments were drafted and proposed to the Federation Parliament by the present Federation government in August this year. They will streamline government and address parallelism and inefficiencies that have wasted public money and condemned government to gridlock for too long.
The amended Law on Government provides for 16 Ministers in the Federation, one Prime Minister and two Vice Prime Ministers. The position of deputy Minister will be abolished in the Federation, mirroring the same change in the Republika Srpska government and in the Cantons.
The amended law also ensures the fair representation of all constituent peoples in the Federation government according to the formula prescribed in the Sarajevo-Mrakovica agreement: eight Ministerial positions will be held by Bosniaks, five by Bosnian Croats and three by Bosnian Serbs.
The new Law on Ministries has been drafted as a consequence of the reorganisation of the government. The Law describes the responsibilities of the 16 ministries in the Federation government and government institutes.
The Law ensures proportionality in the Federation ministries, public administration and institutions, according to the 1991 census, until such time as Annex 7 is fully implemented.
Another significant provision in this law is that four of the Federation Ministries will be located in Mostar, which is in accordance with the Dayton Agreement on the Federation.
The four ministries are Trade, Traffic and Communications, Energy Mining and Industry, and Education, Science, Culture and Sport.