Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Mirko Sarovic, sent a letter to the European Commission in which he requested the exemption of BiH from the implementation of regulation from July 17, 2018, on the introduction of temporary protection measures in relation to imports of certain steel products to the EU.
He noted that the provisional measures of the European Commission were imposed without analysis of exports to the EU and the impact of that kind of exports on the steel industry of the EU, and he wrote that exports from our country would not cause any damage to the steel industry of EU or cause some serious disturbances on the market of the EU.
“On the basis of all aforementioned and basic facts that are related to the introduced measures, as well as the accompanying analysis that are available in the Official Gazette of the EU, we expect from the European Commission to invest every possible effort in finding the appropriate modalities for excluding BiH from the implementation of temporary protection measures. We believe that, during the process of undertaking the procedures for imposing the aforementioned measures, the European Commission failed to take into consideration the possibility that the expected redirection of trade might have strong influence on the EU partners, the Western Balkans countries, which are engaged in the process of stabilization and association. We believe that the exemption would be justified on the basis of the exemptions of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and that basis is ‘close economic relations between BiH and the EU’. For us, the Process of Stabilization and Association represents an even deeper form of integration process in its final instance, which besides the participation in the EEA, includes membership in the EU as well, “stated Minister Sarovic in his letter.
“However, we are convinced that the worst scenarios will not happen and that we will manage to find the modalities for the exclusion of BiH and the prevention of negative effects of the expected redirection of trade in the future period,” said Minister Sarovic, and noted that BiH is ready to attend a hearing in Brussels, which is scheduled for September 12, 2018, on the case of protective measures.
(Source: klix.ba)
