Another in a series of issues on which there is no agreement – the Southern Interconnection. Without it, there is no alternative for gas. So, everything is directed by politics. Suspension and release, it turned out, depends on the will of SNSD. So the question of interest and blackmail arises, but also whose? Is the latest blackmail of the SNSD more of an argument for the realization of HDZ Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) wishes?
“At 8 a.m. I signed the order to release the gas because President Milorad Dodik asked me to do so,” Nedeljko Elek, director of Sarajevo-Gas Istocno Sarajevo, said two days ago.
Gas on demand. An open confession. Crisis as needed. A system based on interests operates on blackmail. Everything under the control of politics, even the valves, because they turn them at will, and use them as a tool to demonstrate force.
“Their policy is – when I want it, then ON, when I don’t want it, then it’s OFF. So is that valve, but this is about personal trades and positions and private trades. These are personal, private trades, haggling and guessing worse than any market I know,” says analyst Svetlana Cenic.
In that market, the most expensive price is paid by citizens. The consequences remain for them, because whether their winter will be long and cold depends on the political situation. However, there is no choice because gas comes to BiH through one route. It is completely dependent on Russian gas and energy insecure. That is why an alternative is necessary. And it is there, but only in a drawer – waiting.
”We need to bring the Southern Interconnection back into focus. It is the only way out, because the moment you have a monopoly, then the one who holds the monopoly defines the rules of the game”, said Mirza Ustamujic, v. d. director of Energoinvest.
“When we realize that project, no gas blackmail will be possible. Of course, on the condition that we do not agree to put anyone’s interest, political, business, and especially private, above the national interest in that project,” said Dragan Miokovic, chairman of the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH – FBiH (Our Party).
And the interest has been great for years, so even though there are no pipes or gas in the south yet, a monopoly is on the horizon. The Southern Interconnection should be a strategic project for the Federation. Long-term, secure gas and heating. However, HDZ BiH has another plan: to throw out BH-gas: to establish a new company and take complete control of it.
“It is the strategic interest of the Croatian people, we have to make a business out of it. It must be the interest of the four cantons: Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC), West Herzegovina Canton (ZHC), Canton 10 and Central Bosnia Canton, and not someone else,” said the president of HDZ BiH Dragan Covic.
That’s why Dodik’s move could be an opportunity for Covic. In principle, one Eastern, the other Southern interconnection to confirm the longest partnership in the BiH political scene.
“He will get what he is looking for in one way or another, given that the Coalition of Three has delivered everything to him so far. This is not excluded either, provided that the American Embassy agrees. One third – even if it was called Coalition of Three – cannot be stronger than this ‘Two people,’ ” says Cenic.
The Coalition of Three still resists this alliance and is an obstacle to the realization of the project according to Covic‘s measure. There is no approval from the American Embassy, on the contrary. Murphy warned, Blinken wrote that this project can only be managed by BH gas. However, Covic resisted all appeals.
“The only institution that can further lead this project is called BH-gas, and we offer this type of solution,” says Elmedin Konakovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH (NiP).
Therefore, the alternative remains the project case. Gas exclusively Russian. Federation without law and other source. The coalition has no agreement for any of them, nor a guarantee that there will be gas, because everything goes through the backs of the citizens anyway, Federalna writes.
E.Dz.
