How did the law on Southern Interconnection turn from the highest priority for the Federation of BIH, as stated in the explanation of the law, into a deadlock in the parliamentary procedure? How did the biggest strategic project turn into a political issue and how did the welfare of the citizens turn into demands with the undertone of an HDZ party ultimatum? These are all questions that came to the table during the consideration of the Southern Interconnection polyline. Although the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a company that could be the bearer of this project, HDZ founded its own with the aim of ethnic mastery of this project, because that is still more important than reducing dependence on Russian gas.
After the first session, the Government of the Federation withdrew all laws that were in the parliamentary procedure, including the law on the Southern Interconnection of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. And even until then, his fate was not glorious. After the Draft Law was adopted by the House of Representatives in December 2021 and after it was sent to the House of Peoples, amendments arrived. In particular, one in the middle of last year which at first sounds like a linguistic problem, namely that “BH-Gas d. Fr. Fr. Replace Sarajevo with the words South Gas Interconnection d. Fr. Fr. Mostar” – just that much.
“But at the House of Peoples, it had a significant number of amendments aimed at forming a new company. The interest of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not to form another company. We have BH-Gas, which manages this part of the work”, emphasizes Vedran Lakić, Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry of FBiH.
BH-Gas as a company is in charge of natural gas transportation and the development of the transportation system. As the holder of the project, Southern Interconnection submitted a request for urban planning approval, and that procedure is at a standstill because four approvals from two cantons with HDZ as a convincing majority are missing.
“We have 56 permits out of a total of 60 necessary approvals for obtaining a planning permit. Four consents from HNK and ZHK cantons are missing”, says Nihada Glamoč, director of BH-gas.
And so behind a simple sentence that BH-Gas, as a company that is 100% owned by the Federation, should be replaced by a cantonal company, there is a clearly realized intention. Instead of giving consent to BH-Gas, which it lacks, the Assembly of the West Herzegovina Canton, with the HDZ in power, votes for the establishment of a company that is, in fact, a counterpart to BH-Gas. With only one goal, which was very clearly detected by the American Embassy in our country:
“Southern interconnection is currently the only feasible project that would allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to end its complete dependence on one source of natural gas supply – Russia. Instead of moving forward with BH-Gas, the only company that has the capacity and is ready to take on this project as a contractor, HDZ BiH now insists on the establishment of another gas transport operator under ethnic Croat control. Dragan Čović chose to follow his own interests, not the interests of the residents of the Federation,” said Michael Murphy, the US ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If the need for political control over another resource is ignored, the introduction of a new entity would nullify the level of development of the project, i.e., the preparation of investment-technical documentation and obtained permits, the number of transport companies would multiply, which would result in citizens’ well-being ending in increase in natural gas prices.
“Introducing another intermediary who has to finance his own costs of existence, which are ultimately paid by the end consumer – this is certainly unfavorable, and therefore the matter should not be divided among several companies,” warns energy expert Nihad Harbaš.
The infrastructural project, which would make Bosnia and Herzegovina independent of Russian gas and connect Bosnia and Herzegovina to the wider European network of gas pipelines through Croatia, is blocking HDZ’s amendment. All of this put the story on the table, whether the HDZ can give up on this through a compromise in such a way as to give them a director’s position in BH-Gas, which, at least for now, the representatives of the Coalition of Three are not against. But is that enough?
“Within the federal coalition, for that law to go through the procedure as soon as possible, my offer to the HDZ is that a Croat should become the head of BH-Gas, because I want integration processes, not disintegration processes,” said Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.
The need to establish a new company that is a counterpart to BH-Gas has no basis in either technical or economic aspects, but is national-political without exception. It even goes beyond financial interest. And so, behind the replacement of one sentence, there is a need to ensure that what is not in the hands of the state and has been handed down to the entities is no longer in those hands either. And when the Southern Interconnection is put an end to, we will see who has become stronger while the country has weakened?
