Members of Hina's Governing Council said that all legal deadlines, by which a decision on the election of a new director is to be made, expired today, stressing they could not be held accountable for the fact that the government and parliament failed to do their job on time, namely to appoint the fifth member of the Government Council.
Members of the agency's Governing Council reiterated that they officially requested the government in August to appoint the fifth member so that they would perform their duties.
An invitation for applications for the new agency director was published on 31 July and was opened for 30 days. After that, the Governing Council used the maximum legal time period of 45 days to make its decision. The Council's decision to extend the mandate of director Mirko Bolfek until 1 January 2007 does not postpone the decision on the appointment of the new agency director, the Hina Governing Council said.
Given that parliament appointed the Council members at the government's proposal, Council members said they were prepared to resign, but dismissed all accusation stated at the government session today. The Governing Council believes that their work so far has been professional and responsible and that in the interest of the agency they have tried to resist all forms of political pressure.