From the Croatian Government for NAP: Protocol with the Brod Refinery is not legally binding!

The signing of the Protocol on cooperation in the implementation of the project "Natural Gas Supply to the End Customer - Brod Oil Refinery" between the BiH entity Republika Srpska and neighboring Republic of Croatia has caused great attention and concern in the Federation of BiH.

If this project is realized, it means that natural gas will reach the Oil Refinery in Bosanski Brod from Croatia using the old product pipeline (oil pipeline). Both sides emphasize that the goal is to reduce air pollution in both Bosanski and Slavonski Brod, which is currently a major problem in this border area of BiH and Croatia.

On the other hand, BH Gas warns that no one has contacted the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding this project, and that if the Refinery were to actually receive gas in this manner, the Federation would be left without the possibility of connecting to natural gas from Croatia, as there would be no technical possibility for the Federation to connect to the same product pipeline.

That agreement was signed by the entity Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of RS, Petar Đokić, and the Croatian Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy, Tomislav Ćorić, and the entity Prime Minister Željka Cvijanović was also present in Brod.

"The Protocol on cooperation in the implementation of the Brod Oil Refinery gasification project was not signed by two governments, but by two line ministries. The Protocol, by its participants, structure, and content, is not an international agreement but an international act that is not legally binding and represents an expression of intent to establish cooperation between two bodies," confirmed the Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy for the Patria agency.

They further explain that according to the Law on the Conclusion and Execution of International Agreements of the Republic of Croatia, an "International Treaty" is an agreement based on the mutual consent of at least two subjects of international law, governed by international law and in written form, regardless of whether it is contained in a single document or in two or more interconnected documents and regardless of its title, which the Republic of Croatia concludes with one or more states, one or more international organizations, or one or more other subjects of international law."

"Therefore, the Protocol on cooperation in the implementation of the gasification project, signed by Minister Tomislav Ćorić on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy, and not on behalf of the Republic of Croatia, which is a subject of international law, is not an international agreement but an international act by which no international legal obligations are assumed. Interpretations that the signed Protocol has the characteristics of an international agreement are incorrect," are clear from Croatia, writes NAP.