Three months have passed since the new border crossing in Gradiška was supposed to be opened. However, after there was no agreement at the session of the Management Board of the Indirect Taxation Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the situation has not changed until today. During this time, carriers warn that waiting times at the borders are several hours long, while the economy suffers significant damage.
Lines at the old border crossing in Gradiška are daily and often last for hours. Carriers state that they sometimes wait up to eight or nine hours in order to enter or leave Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is why they insist on the opening of the new crossing as soon as possible, which is still out of order, as they claim, due to a lack of political will.
“Unfortunately, we do not have any positive information that the border crossing could be opened soon. We see that it is a kind of political skirmish. The losses are huge. During the time we spend waiting at the border, we could already be in Germany. We have scheduled appointments and because of such delays, we are losing them,” said the president of the Association of Carriers for Internal and International Transport of the RS, Nikola Grbić.
And everything remained stuck back in December at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Indirect Taxation Administration. Unofficially, we learn that the same item should be discussed again at the next session, which is being prepared. When exactly, the Ministry of Finance did not want to tell Federalna, but the minister is again asking to influence Zijad Krnjić.
“Arrange with Zijad Krnjić the opening of the border crossing so that he does not close things that should not be closed,” said the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina Srđan Amidžić.
The head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rick Holtzapple, recently spoke about the blockages and challenges facing the state institutions, where he made a special reference to the lack of an agreement on the opening of the newly built border crossing.
“Due to the lack of constructive engagement at different levels, state institutions have a problem with making practical decisions to open a border crossing,” Holtzapple pointed out.
Economists state that it is impossible to measure how much damage the economy is suffering because it is the most frequent border crossing from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union.
“The arbitrariness of one of the members of the board of directors, who does not want to change the rulebook, is something for which that person should bear responsibility. All these blockages that are happening in the Indirect Taxation Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that customs are under their jurisdiction, lead to an increase in costs. I really do not know how it is possible that no one is responsible for such things,” said economic analyst Zoran Pavlović.
The so-called Zijad Krnjić did not answer our phone calls and messages. Earlier, he stated that he will not vote for changes to the ordinance until the value added tax revenue is settled between the entities.
While waiting for a new session and a possible agreement, businessmen are adding up their losses, warning that the damage could be even greater because the long waits at the borders further reduce the competitiveness of their products.
photo: illustration
