Zoran Tegeltija

Zoran Tegeltija (born 29 September 1961) is a Bosnian politician who is the 10th and current Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Zoran Tegeltija
10th Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 December 2019
President	Šefik Džaferović Milorad Dodik Željko Komšić
Deputy	Vjekoslav Bevanda Bisera Turković
Preceded by	Denis Zvizdić
7th Minister of Finance of the Republika Srpska
In office 29 December 2010 – 18 December 2018
Preceded by	Aleksandar Džombić
Succeeded by	Zora Vidović
Mayor of Mrkonjić Grad
In office 2004–2010
Personal details
Born	(1961-09-29) 29 September 1961 Mrkonjić Grad, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Bosnian
Political party	Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Sarajevo Alfa BK University

He has also served as the 7th Minister of Finance of the Republika Srpska from 29 December 2010 until 18 December 2018 and has also been the Mayor of Mrkonjić Grad from 2004 to 2010. Tegeltija is a member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats.

Biography

Tegeltija is a Serb and has attended schools in his native Mrkonjić Grad and then moved to Sarajevo, where in 1986 he graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo. He is married and has two children.

He worked at the Bosanski Brod oil refinery, the Tax Administration and the Customs Administration of Republika Srpska as adviser to the director. In addition, he was a lecturer at the RS Customs Administration training centre, and member of the Commission for the implementation of the BiH customs policy.

Political career

Tegeltija has been a member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats since 1998. He was first elected in 2000 in the town council of Mrkonjić Grad[1] as well as a member of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska[2] and later served as chairman of the State Commission for the BiH borders.

He was elected mayor of Mrkonjić Grad in 2004 and confirmed in 2008, serving until 2010.[3][4] At the 2006 general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tegeltija was the head of the party's election headquarters.[5] Albeit a close ally of Milorad Dodik, Tegeltija has never engaged in nationalistic rhetoric, nor been embroiled in major scandals.[1]

In 2006, he completed his postgraduate studies and in 2008 gained the title of Doctor of Economic Sciences from Alpha BK University in Belgrade. Since 2009 he worked as senior assistance and then assistant professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Business Management, University of Banja Luka, teaching public finance and monetary economics.

Entity minister of finance

Tegeltija was appointed Minister of Finance of the Republika Srpska entity on 29 December 2010 in the government of Aleksandar Džombić,[6] and was later confirmed in the post in the first and second cabinet of Željka Cvijanović in 2013 and 2014.[7] He was re-elected at the entity parliament at the 2018 general elections.

During his ministerial tenure, three banks failed in Republika Srpska, including Bobar Banka and Balkan Investment Bank. Tegeltija's government increased its capital in the latter by 15 million euro in 2013, becoming majority owner of it. The bank changed name in Bank of Srpska, but was liquidated in 2016, with a loss estimated at 60 million euro in public and private deposits. The RS Banking Agency, under the jurisdiction of Tegeltija's entity ministry of Finance, was blamed for lack of supervision on the banking sector. The RS entity Supreme Court ruled in July 2019 that the Agency had illegally hid data on banking operation and that the bankruptcies could have been prevented.[1]

In 2017, the RS entity Public Sector Audit Office contested the official estimates of public deficit, claiming it was up to 87.5 million euros, not 22.5 million as reported by Tegeltija's ministry. The audit office also found that the government had taken loans on behalf of funds and public institutions without their knowledge. The Auditor-General Dusko Snjegota resigned soon after, and Jovo Radukić, a former assistant to Tegeltija was appointed in his stead. The move was widely denounced as a clear case of political pressure on independent institutions. [1]

Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers

On 5 December 2019, the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the appointment of Zoran Tegeltija as the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[8] The whole government was confirmed by Parliament on 23 December.

References

1. Balkan Insight
2. "Zoran Tegeltija basic information" (in Bosnian).
3. "Elections results 2004" (PDF).
4. "Elections results 2008".
5. "Društvo - Nezavisne novine". 9 February 2008. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
6. Muller, Tom (2012). Political Handbook of the World 2012. SAGE. p. 171. ISBN 9781608719952.
7. Lansford, Tom (2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. CQ Press. p. 776. ISBN 9781483371559.
8. Kovacevic, Danijel (5 December 2019). "Bosnia Parliament Confirms Tegeltija as New State PM". Balkan Insight.

External links

• Zoran Tegeltija at CIN.ba

Political offices
Preceded by Denis Zvizdić	Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019–present	Incumbent