Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Vjekoslav Bevanda said that this convocation of the Council of Ministers in the last year began a process for preparing BiH for Croatia’s entry to the EU.
Chairman Bevanda openly answered questions from businesspeople at a dinner for members of the BiH-French Business Club and hosted by Roland Gilles, the French Ambassador to BiH. The questions concerned the consequences of Croatia’s EU accession on BiH, and the status of foreign investors in BiH, according to “Večernji list”.
Chairman Bevanda said how for years they spoke about the number of border controls with Croatia, through which they will be able to export food products, but that they had neglected the conditions that must be met.
However, he said that two border controls, called BIP, will undergo training until July 1st, which is the date for Croatia’s official EU entry.
Bevanda said that before that the EU Commission will also inspect the conditions.
Also, Bevanda said how he has a close relationship with the Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and would solve as soon as possible all open questions.
Commenting on the trilateral meeting between BiH-Croatia-EU in Brussels, Bevanda said: “There was a lot of politics and conditioned solutions for the entry through Neum and the use of the port of Ploče. All my diplomatic efforts were directed to familiarize the EU with the problem, which was something not discussed before me. The problem of the Ploče port and the passing through Neum are two separate things that we have to solve and it is in the interest of BiH, but without conditionality. My goal is to obtain a passage through Ploče for our goods, while the issue of Neum has to be solved without politicizing. I will suggest the solutions to the Council of Ministers, because we have no time left’’.
