Pelješac Bridge Affair: In addition to BH parliamentarians and experts, political parties are also getting involved

Halid Genjac, President of the Main Board of the Party of Democratic Action, will hold an extraordinary press conference on Saturday to discuss the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, reports the Patria agency.

Namely, several BH parliamentarians will send a letter to European officials and institutions stating that Bosnia and Herzegovina never gave consent for the construction of the bridge.

The letter also states that Croatia is encouraging the illegal construction of the bridge in a situation where the maritime borders between the two countries are neither valid nor established in a valid manner, and the Border Treaty between the two countries has not been confirmed/ratified in the parliaments of the two countries. The letter denies Croatia's claims that it has the consent of the BH side for the construction of the bridge. The truth is, the parliamentarians explain, that neither the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor the Council of Ministers, nor the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina have ever given such consent to Croatia.

- The public in Bosnia and Herzegovina rightly wonders and suspects that the requested consent was forged or falsely signed by employees of the ministries of the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who are members of the HDZ from Croatia and the HDZ from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which indicates the possible commission of the criminal offense of corruption and false representation, forgery of a state document and conflict of interest, so we demand that the competent BH institutions as well as the institutions of the European Commission act according to their competencies, investigate these allegations and punish possible perpetrators - state, among other things, BH parliamentarians in the letter that will soon arrive at the address of EU officials.

Domestic and international experts explain that international law is on the side of Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to the case of the Pelješac Bridge. The right of access to the open sea is guaranteed to it by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Article 7, paragraph 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that a state may not apply the system of straight baselines in such a way as to cut off another state from the open sea.

- Given that the construction of the Pelješac Bridge would block Bosnia and Herzegovina's access to the open sea through the Mali Ston Bay, and Bosnia and Herzegovina has no other exit, Croatia cannot usurp and close that passage. If Croatia builds any kind of bridge in the Mali Ston Bay, it will mean restricted access for Bosnia and Herzegovina to the open sea. The height of the bridge, good passability, movable and fixed towers, are just a distraction from the essence. Croatia has no right to bridge the Mali Ston Bay, no matter what technology and standards they apply. The question is in what way and under what conditions did the EU approve co-financing the construction of such a bridge? Did the Croatian authorities deceive Brussels as well?