The failure to open the Gradiška border crossing is the result of yet another in a series of conditions. This time, it is not European laws that are on the table, but the distribution of money.
The adoption of new coefficients for the distribution of funds collected from VAT is a condition for the official opening of the Gradiška border crossing.
SRĐAN AMIDŽIĆ, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH: “Unfortunately, nothing good comes of it when it comes to people living in BiH in the FBiH and RS, Zijad Krnjić has once again overturned the rulebook.
Zijad Krnjić is the only member of the board of directors who voted against adopting the amendment to the Rulebook on the Internal Organization of the ITA, which is necessary for the new border crossing to start operating. He claims there are clear reasons for such a decision.”
Zijad Krnjić “They voted against the decision to make a settlement according to which the FBiH should receive about 100 million BAM, they also voted against determining the coefficients and some other acts whose adoption is the responsibility of the ITA BiH Board of Directors.”
The problem arises after September 2023, when the coefficients for the distribution of VAT funds were last changed, although they should be determined every three months. Because of this, as Krnjić claims, the Federation is losing millions of BAM. However, since Krnjić was appointed by the Federation Government in the previous term, the current Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić says that he does not support his views.
NERMIN NIKŠIĆ, Prime Minister of the Federation “The address is wrong, we should not call out the Government of the Federation, because this is not the position of the Federation Government, which was expressed by the so-called expert Mr. Krnjić, whom we found there and whom we cannot change until his mandate expires, he actually represents the policy of the SDA there.”
The Prime Minister of the Federation also received a quick response from the RS.
SRĐAN AMIDŽIĆ, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH “Then let him dismiss him and appoint someone who will open this. But no one can dismiss Krnjić until the mandate he received before 2021 expires.”
BAKIR IZETBEGOVIĆ, SDA President “As for Krnjić, he was appointed as an expert and he really is an expert, no so-called, and unfortunately he had to act as a politician and do the job of Nermin Nikšić and Kraljević… he has the support of the SDA.
Certainly a nice message, as they say about “coexistence” in BiH, everyone in BiH will pay this price, and in this way it is certainly shown once again that BiH is an unsustainable country.”
SRĐAN AMIDŽIĆ, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH “The conflict within the Federation, in RS, is called blockades and proof that BiH is an unsustainable country. This is the position of a minister from the SNSD, a party whose cadres are blocking European processes at the state level, calling it a legitimate political right. While the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers Borjana Krišto concludes that politics has overridden public interest and stopped a project of strategic importance.”
