Forto: Carriers' Schengen days reset, a temporary solution

(Patria) - Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Forto addressed the media today after a meeting of the Working Group for coordination of activities related to the issue of drivers' stay in the Schengen zone, where, as he said, due to technical reasons, representatives of the carriers, to whom this problem relates, were not present.

Representatives of freight forwarders, the Foreign Trade Chamber, and the FBiH Ministry of Trade joined the working group at today's meeting, while representatives of the competent ministry from RS were unable to attend, so the meeting will be repeated on some points, Forto explained.

"I repeat, we have a simple conclusion that the working group has been seeking for some time: a meeting with the competent authorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the topic of the stay of our carriers, border crossings, and entry into Schengen is requested. Today, we expanded this to the topic of harmonizing inspections at border crossings with the Republic of Croatia. This concerns veterinary and phytosanitary inspections, which is why some crossings are not effective for what our carriers need. We are repeating this request and will not give up until we get this meeting. I expect the chairperson Krišto to provide some new information related to the talks she had with Prime Minister Plenković," he told reporters.

The next meeting, which should also be attended by representatives of carriers, as well as the competent ministry in RS, will be held in about fifteen days, he added.

Given that the entry and exit system of the European Union, EES, will be fully activated from tomorrow, April 10, he highlighted one piece of positive news: the Schengen days, i.e., the number of days of stay in Schengen, are being reset for a large number of BiH carriers.

"Right now, they can breathe; all days have been reset to zero, even those who had a certain number of days in the past six months. I believe the European Commission did this in coordination with the Republic of Croatia; we persistently asked them to do so, also because of the upcoming holidays, to reduce inevitable congestion. I am satisfied that this has happened, but it is a temporary solution," Forto stated.

Answering journalists' questions, he said he does not think the Republic of Croatia is ignoring this issue, given that the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers Borjana Krišto is directly involved in discussions about this problem, and he is also in communication with the competent ministry and Minister Butković.

"We just need a systemic approach, an official meeting with the competent authorities. We need to talk about many things in everyday life and business when crossing the border. Which border crossings, how many workers at each crossing... There are also interstate commissions that continuously work on this; discussions must be held systematically at the level of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Council of Ministers of BiH," he concluded.

When asked about the solution for BHRT, Forto said he is awaiting the final opinion of the Ministry of Finance, after which it will be sent to the Council of Ministers.

"It is a technical matter, and then let everyone express their political stance at the Council of Ministers. I don't see BHRT as controversial or problematic for anyone, except for policies inherited from the past. I hope reason will prevail," said Minister Forto, N1 reports.