Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to B&H Olav Reinertsen said today in Sarajevo that free media and investigative journalism are one of the most important pillars for any democracy, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ambassador Reinertsen, as a participant in the roundtable on "Fairplay Rules in Public Finances", organized by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), said that in his country, a key role in ensuring free media and democracy falls on the government itself.

The ambassador stated that two documents prepared by C&N would be presented at the roundtable. The first is about the benefits and privileges of elected representatives in B&H, and the second is about employment in the civil service, public institutions and advisory positions.

-It is very important to look at the conclusions of these two studies, but also to follow the recommendations contained in these reports- said Ambassador Reinertsen.

An MP in the House of Representatives of the B&H Parliamentary Assembly Saša Magazinović, as one of the panelists, said that this was the first time that an NGO opened numerous controversial topics in this manner, "not in a way to widen the gap between the governmental and non-governmental sector, but to open a dialogue".

-Also, we have to pose a question whether advisors are needed in this scope and whether maybe assistant ministers should be the ones who will be politically appointed, then we do not need advisors at all. Do we elect directors of public companies at competitions to satisfy the form alone, and are the best ones really being selected- stated Magazinović.

He also asked whether separate living benefits is really what it says it is 'separate living', do people who have different privileges, apartments at their disposal, are they really in those apartments, or maybe some of those apartments are being rented?".

-By opening a dialogue in this way on fair play in public financial management, we can take one big step. In addition to this necessary reconciliation between the non-governmental and governmental sectors and joint cooperation in better management of public funds, we as politicians can begin to restore the trust of citizens and show that politics has a human face- concluded Magazinović.

CIN Director Lejla Bičakčić said that the participants in the roundtable will focus on the different ways in which public funds are spent, "very often non-transparently, without any control and very often for purposes that may not be necessary."

She noted that CIN has been working on investigative stories on topics such as these ones for years, monitoring public money flows and the ways in which public money is spent.

According to her, an initiative has been launched to finally start discussing ways of better controlling public spending, to finally show that politics has a rational approach to spending public money, to work responsibly in the interest of citizens.

-The state budget at all levels can be used in an extremely efficient way and provide sufficient funds for all the needs we have in B&H, especially during the pandemic- said Bičakčić.