SAA Blockade: If BiH Opens Up to Quality EU Products, Serbian Ones Must Go

Bosnia and Herzegovina has stalled on its path to the European Union, after BiH Presidency member Mladen Ivanić refused to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), reports Patria. 

Increasing the quotas for the import of meat and agricultural products into BiH from the EU is one of the key conditions of official Brussels for the authorities in BiH. These quotas are to be defined precisely by the new chapters in the SAA. The deadline by which BiH must amend parts of the SAA is July 18 this year. If this does not happen, BiH will have to wait some time before it gets another opportunity to negotiate with the EU. As things stand, Ivanić does not intend to change his decision.

The reason why Ivanić, as one of the members of the BiH Presidency, does not want to sign the SAA, at least according to him, is that the BiH Agency for Statistics published the results of the population census in the country. Politicians from RS are unanimous that they do not want to recognize the census results.

From this BiH entity, they have opposed changes to the SAA before, long before the census results were announced. From Banja Luka, they claim that increasing imports into BiH from the EU would destroy agriculture in RS.
 
- My condition is that the census results must be revised in order to consider signing the SAA – Ivanić told reporters today in Banja Luka.

However, some analysts warn that BiH's stagnation on the path to the EU may also come from Serbia. The amended SAA between BiH and the EU does not suit official Belgrade. Because Serbian products in BiH would get a strong competitor.
For example, in 2015 alone, Serbia exported 18,000 tons of live cattle to BiH. Some live cattle from Serbia also come through illegal channels, so the total number of live cattle that Serbia places on the BiH market is far greater.

In the same year, the EU exported only 2,000 tons of live cattle to BiH. If the EU increases exports to BiH, it is clear that this will affect the reduction of exports from Serbia. The EU has higher quality meat, which would be even cheaper for BiH citizens, reports Patria.