After the Youth Council of the Federation of BiH warned the public a few days ago that the only federal budget line dedicated exclusively to young people and youth organizations – the Youth Transfer – had been removed from the 2026 Federation budget without any explanation, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports responded by stating that they believe this was solely a technical oversight that will be corrected as soon as possible.

The Ministry stated that in all of its financial requests during the budget preparation process, it had sought a higher allocation for the Youth Transfer compared to the previous year, emphasizing that after many years, the budget for this transfer was doubled in 2025 compared to earlier years.

However, the fact that the allocation was doubled does not mean that it is anywhere near the level of funding that would lead to positive change in this context. Rather, it indicates that very little has been allocated for young people over all these years. And now, instead of increasing the Youth Transfer from 600,000 to 1 million KM, as requested by the Youth Council for 2026, the Government has completely eliminated this budget item due to a “technical oversight.”

According to the Youth Council of the Federation of BiH, since 2012 this Transfer has represented the only systemic framework through which young people have been directly recognized in the federal budget.

“Over more than a decade of its existence, a total of 5.2 million KM has been allocated through the Youth Transfer, and in the period from 2018 to 2023 alone, 357 youth organizations and organizations working with youth were supported. This clearly shows that it was not a merely formal budget item, but a mechanism with a real and measurable impact,” the Youth Council of FBiH stated, reminding the public that an analysis of overall budget allocations for young people in the Federation of BiH showed that less than 0.1% of the annual budget is allocated to them.

We remind that the Youth Council of the Federation of BiH, with the support of the PRAGG project, advocates for transparent budgeting for youth in the Federation of BiH, specifically for an increase in the amount allocated to the Youth Transfer within the FBiH Budget.

However, as politicians in BiH are unfamiliar with self-criticism and objectivity and instead rely on self-praise, even this situation was used to “remind” the public that the Government of the Federation of BiH, at the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports, “for the first time in the recent history of BiH, unanimously adopted the Youth Strategy, the Regulation on the Establishment of the Youth Council, and demonstrated strong support for all initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports related to youth issues.”

Then, instead of the Minister of Culture calling the Minister of Finance to ask about the disappearance of the Youth Transfer from the budget, informing the public of the answer, and apologizing on behalf of the Government for not doing enough to improve the catastrophic situation of young people, the usual mechanism of local politics was employed — shifting responsibility and criticizing those who raise concerns.

Thus, the Ministry stated that it expects the Youth Council, as well as other associations dealing with youth issues, to “contribute to improving the position of young people, to activate amendments to the Law on Youth that have been discussed for three full years without concrete progress by the Youth Council, and that the Council will significantly intensify efforts to encourage young people to engage in volunteering, activism, and other activities that would contribute to the establishment of youth councils in all cantons, which has not been the case so far.”

“Only through joint efforts, dedication, and fulfilling our assigned responsibilities can we achieve progress that brings benefits to young people,” the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports stated in the announcement, adding that “the Government of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports are firmly committed to that path.”

They simply had a “technical oversight.”
We will soon see whether it will be corrected — or whether it will turn out to be “technically difficult” to do so.