After yesterday’s session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Stasa Kosarac, addressed the media, since one of the topics was the consideration of the introduction of protective measures for certain products from the European Union (EU).
As Kosarac told, they proposed to the Council of Ministers to adopt an item on the introduction of protective measures when it comes to importing fresh chilled meat from the EU.
“For inexplicable reasons and without any discussion at the session, some of the ministers did not vote for this decision so it was not adopted. I will tell you now that the chairman Tegeltija, Minister Mitrovic, Jovic, and I voted for this decision. I believe it is a proper model to resolve this issue in a quality way through amendments to the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, which is discriminatory for BiH. Arguments were on our side. Why import in BiH is done without customs duties, levies, and customs rates. Although the proposal was not adopted, we will proceed according to the rules in order to permanently solve this issue. Consultations with the EU will begin on April 15th, ” Kosarac stated yesterday.
To recall, the proposal was to introduce a levy or protective tax and customs duty on imports of fresh chilled beef and pork from the EU for two years. Kosarac justified this proposal by claiming that producers from BiH are additionally endangered by the coronavirus pandemic and, as he noted, by unfair competition from outside.
It is also important to mention that the eventual adoption of protective measures could undermine the integration of BiH into the EU if the SAA is found to have been violated, Klix.ba writes.
