The President of the HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, said on Monday, after the session of the Presidency of this party, that the ban on the disposal of state property is an “obstacle to investments” in BiH and that possible changes should protect the interest of the country.
The issue of state property in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been one of the key political and legal obstacles for two decades and as such is once again in the focus of the international community. According to some reports, the Quinte countries (USA, UK, Germany, France and Italy) are working to find a permanent solution through possible non-paper.
The goal is to define a model that would permanently regulate the issue of ownership of state property, while respecting the previous decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also enable the realization of large infrastructure and energy projects, which is the primary goal of all members of Quinta for the purpose of a faster flow of investments. Čović said at the press conference that he had already asked for this issue to be resolved.
“I don’t know what exactly the representatives of Quint did, but since I communicated with the representatives of the American administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I hope that they will come out with a concrete statement. I listened to the review of colleagues from SDA and SDP on that topic and I think that we have aligned positions on many issues. The interests of BiH should be protected, and this should also be enabled for all other levels of government, in accordance with the Constitution. The decision on state property, as it is now, is evidently an obstacle to investments throughout BiH,” emphasized the president of HDZ BiH.
He also believes that an adequate solution should be found on this issue, because many investments, including the one on the Southern Gas Interconnection (JPI), are “waiting”.
“The company that should take over the work related to JPI has been defined. About one and a half billion dollars is planned through such a project, and we expect confirmation this week from the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples, which would complete the amendments to the law on JPI,” asserted Čović.
The next step after that is the signing of an interstate agreement between BiH and the Republic of Croatia.
“After the procedure in the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it should also go to the Council of Ministers of BiH. The ultimate goal is to co-sign the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Council of Ministers of BiH at the end of April. We know that the JPI is leaning on Croatia, and the idea is to sign this interstate agreement in Dubrovnik at a large forum, where representatives of the American administration will also be present,” revealed Čović.
He also touched on the topic of bidders for new electoral technologies, where in some statements the HDZ BiH and SNSD have been accused of obstructing this process.
“There is no reason why we should not accuse each other, but without basis. If the tender is public and if someone has applied for it, then it must be done professionally to the end. No company, in any way, is connected to either the HDZ BiH or me. The HDZ is not joining forces with anyone to stop any process. If anyone needs transparent elections, it is the HDZ and the Croatian people,” said Čović.
One of the topics at the Presidency was the security situation in HNK and FBiH.
“What is not good is that we recently had an incident in Široki Brijeg, in Potoci near Mostar, near Tuzla, Stolac, and all of this is related to fan groups. I’m sorry that this is happening, but the most important answer to this should be given by the institutions that care about the safety of all residents of this area. The Ministry of Interior of the HNK, the minister and the director responded in the most adequate way possible. In all events, the possibility of speculation was quickly eliminated because the perpetrator was found,” said the president of HDZ BiH.
He added that the problem is that the other side (op. a. fans), “always has a vow of silence and a code of conduct and will not accuse the other side”. – We in BiH need peace and stability. Our police and judiciary must respond in an adequate way – believes Čović. At the end, he also answered the question of HDZ BiH’s position on the initiative of NiP on taxing betting shops.
“Our attitude is positive for everyone, but everything needs to be harmonized. That is all that the state should do, but it must not be done spontaneously and at the will of some individuals in this pre-election period. We have to act like all other organized societies,” Cović concluded.
