Seventy-five per cent of the six issues pertaining to the Croatian-Bosnian border regime upon Croatia's accession to the European Union has been solved at the trilateral meeting in Brussels, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said on Wednesday.
She was speaking after today's meeting with Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malstroem, Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli, Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
The meeting discussed the transport of goods across the Croatian-Bosnian border after Croatia's EU accession on July 1, 2013, transit through Neum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the export and import of Bosnian goods through the Croatian seaport of Ploce, and a medium term solution to connect Croatian territory that is interrupted in Neum, Bosnia's access to the sea.
Pusic said it turned out that there were certain differences of understanding between Croatia and Bosnia on the one side and the European Commission on the other, especially regarding the transport of goods through Neum and from Ploce to the Bosnian border.
Pusic said it was confirmed that the EU would finance a feasibility study for connecting Croatian territory and that Bosnian experts were invited to participate in drawing up the study.
"It was agreed to consider different forms of connection and compare costs without isolating Bosnia and Herzegovina. This isn't about isolating BH but about meeting European standards."
The transit of people across the border and transit through Neum until a permanent solution is found as to how to connect parts of Croatian and thereby EU territory was agreed during Croatia's EU entry talks.
Pusic said all border crossings under construction would be finished in time and that they were mostly financed from the IPA pre-accession fund. To meet the Schengen criteria, as of next July 1 Croatia is entitled to EUR 40 million and the total amount it will receive to align with the criteria is about EUR 100 million.
Bosnian Minister Lagumdzija said nothing would change for people crossing the border when Croatia joined the EU but that big changes lay ahead for business people. He underlined the importance of the Ploce port for the Bosnian economy.
"It's in our interest that we can use the Ploce port for export and import, that it should be the port of the Bosnian economy. On the other hand, it's also in our interest that parts of Croatia's territory be connected. It's not an issue for us that Croatia should connect its territory, just as it's not an issue that BH should have access to the high seas, that its territory should be acknowledged. Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to help in solving the problems with the (Peljesac) bridge in the best way possible," he said, adding that the feasibility study would provide many answers.
The European Commission issued a statement after the trilateral meeting, announcing that the next one will take place in Brussels in early December.
"A pre-feasibility study funded by the EU will be launched in order to assess various transport infrastructure options, including sealed road corridor, ferry and bridge, to ensure a reliable and sustainable connection between the area of Dubrovnik and the North-West Croatian mainland," the statement said.
"The Commission took note of the various interests of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Neum/Ploce area and recalled the importance of ensuring full acquis compliance at the EU's future external border."
The Commission called on Bosnia to make all possible efforts to accelerate the work relating to the planned access road to the new Border Crossing Point at Metkovic II.
"The Commission committed itself to launch very soon the necessary procedures for a Commission Decision through which the transit of many agricultural products of animal origin between Metkovic and the Port of Ploce would be ensured," the statement said.
The Commission pledged to continue providing technical assistance to Bosnia for the alignment of legislation relating to food safety, as well as veterinary and phytosanitary affairs, and encouraged the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to speed up their work in order to meet all necessary EU requirements to allow the export of agricultural products of animal origin to the EU.
