After the Minister of Foreign Ministry Affairs of Croatia, Vesna Pusić, briefly confirmed that Croatia blocked the import of B&H milk in the EU, Croatian Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović, revealed the real reasons for the blockage.
“B&H has been stalling for already a year, and I have to say it openly, openly because of the Croatian public that needs to know that we are doing it because of Croatian exporters. B&H must do what Slovenia has done for Croatia, and Croatia for Slovenia, when Slovenia joined the EU, therefore the same rule is applied. There are certain duties that we are asking for, therefore, that certain traditional quota for Croatian exports to B&H from before 2013 have to continue to be respected. B&H has been stalling for a year and a half, and there are no ethnic differences among them, they are all unique when it comes to the money,” said Croatian Prime Minister.
Thus, Milanović openly confessed that the blockade of imports of milk in the EU represents the open pressure of Croatian on B&H, as well as the certain kind of blackmail.
The key problem is the obvious request of Croatia to continue to trade with the countries of CEFTA under preferential conditions after joining the EU. After Croatia left CEFTA, the European Commission negotiated the placement of Croatian products on the market under the preferential conditions with all of its members, except for B&H. Croatia, although leaving the CEFTA, wants to continue to use certain benefits that our government is opposed to.
“95% of their products would ended up on our market and compared to the period before joining the EU, less than a half of domestic products is on the market of the neighboring country. We expect countermeasures, but we couldn’t let this happen because of our dairy sector and our producers”, reported Croatian “Večernji List” from a high-ranked source from Croatian Government who did not want to reveal his name.
The same source also alleged that B&H has used Croatian exit from CEFTA to clear up the shelves of Croatian products and make place for products from Serbia and Turkey.
“Traditional quotas” or traditional exports that Milanović and Croatia are referring to, would be disastrous for B&H.
Back in 2012, Croatia exported 34,000 tons of milk and dairy products in B&H, while that export fell to 12,000 tons in 2014.
“It should be insisted on reciprocity, on average Croatian exports from 2011, 2012 and 2013 to B&H, and that should become the EU quota,” said director of “Croatiastočar,” Branko Bobetić, for Croatian media.
(Source: klix.ba)
