ZAGREB, July 22, 2019 – Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Minister Mirko Šarović, who is the leader of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), on Monday called on the country’s Presidency to once again examine the question of the Pelješac Bridge and Croatia’s plans for a nuclear waste site at Trgovska Gora after media reported that Croatia had already decided on that site which is close to the Bosnian border.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina has no other choice than to once again put the issue of a nuclear waste storage facility in Trgovska Gora, which is of enormous significance for the entire country and in particular for the towns of Novi Grad, Kostajnica and other border towns, but also the issue of the construction of the Pelješac Bridge on the agenda and to take a clear stance,” Šarović said in Banja Luka on Monday.
According to Šarović, the Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik’s decision last week to veto a decision by the two other Presidency members was rash. As the incumbent chairman of the tripartite presidency, Dodik called for a veto to a decision by the Bosniak and Serb members, Šefik Džaferović and Željko Komšić respectively that a demand be sent to Croatia to stop the construction of the Pelješac Bridge until the sea border demarcation issue is resolved between the two countries. Dodik’s veto was later upheld by the Republika Srpska parliament.
In the meantime, some media outlets have reported that Croatia’s authorities have already decided on Trgovska Gora as the site to build a nuclear waste storage facility, which is located on the border with Bosnia, and this has led to numerous reactions in that country.
Šarović said that after the announcement of the plan to build the nuclear waste facility, authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina “have no alternative than to once again” raise these issues with Croatia at the next Presidency meeting.
More news about relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in the Politics section.