The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) today voted on the Report regarding the Activities in relation to the Construction of the Peljesac Bridge and the Report on the Activities regarding the Activities in relation to the Realization of the Project to construct the International Bridge over the Sava River near Svilaj and other border parts of the highway on the Corridor Vc by the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH, according to the news agency Patria.
The conclusion of the SBB Caucus is that the House of Representatives is to “request of the Council of Ministers to start and intensify the process of ratifying the Agreement about the State Border between BiH and Croatia, signed in Sarajevo on Jula 30th, 1999, in accordance with the Law on the Process of Concluding and Executing International Agreements in the next 60 days” wasn’t adopted since there wasn’t a majority from Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of BiH.
The prior Declaration, which was signed by 24 representatives, wasn’t adopted because there wasn’t an entity majority. Then, complete chaos started reigning in the Parliamentary Assembly. Borjana Kristo, the chairwoman of the HoR PABiH didn’t want to allow Sefik Dzaferovic, her deputy, to speak since he wanted to seek another vote in front of the SDA Caucus, but there still wasn’t an entity majority. After that, the SDS Caucus sought another vote and the declaration was adopted.
Afterwards, the amendment to the Declaration proposed by SDS was adopted. The amendment had four points, among which are a request to Croatia and the Eu to speed up activities in the acquisition of funds for the construction of the bridge near Gradiska and for them to recognize the significance of BiH regarding the Adriatic-Ionic Highway, especially regarding its route.
Point 11 seeks a solution to the question of the border between BiH and Croatia, reminiscent of the difficult life of the people living in the two Konstanicas.
The Declaration calls on the relevant organs of Croatia and the European Union to halt all preparations which can have the effect of decreasing or eliminating BiH’s sovereign right to the sea.
The Declaration says that it’s necessary to undertake all legal actions to protect the sovereign rights of BiH on the sea.
Experts warned earlier that the construction of the Peljesac Bridge would block access to the open sea for BiH, which would mean that Croatia would violate the UN Convention on the rights to the sea.
The European Union allocated 357 million Eros for the construction of the Peljesac Bridge, but the spokesperson for the European Union Johannes Behrke has said for the Vecernji list that Croatia must first harmonize their stances regarding this project with BiH.
(Source: NAP.ba)
