Circle 99: Pelješac Bridge does not necessarily represent a problem for BiH, if solutions are agreed upon beforehand

Regardless of how the upcoming parliamentary debate at the expected session of the BiH PA on the „Pelješački most - otvoreno more“ (Pelješac Bridge - open sea) unfolds, even under the current conditions of extreme pressure on the state-building political forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its results will be measured primarily in terms of protecting the vital national interests of the state of BiH. But also in the definitive recognition of the actors and addresses of mimetic patriotism, is the position of the Association of Independent Intellectuals - Krug 99 (Circle 99). 

The Association states that responsible state parliamentarians must clearly and unequivocally advocate for positions that are necessarily in the interest of the state of BiH. And these positions, Circle 99 further states, are contained in several points. First, the international legal regime of the access corridor or connection of BiH waters to the open sea must be determined, and the final delimitation and demarcation at sea between the two neighboring coastal states, BiH and Croatia, which share the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, must be made. 

This, they state, primarily refers to the sea area of the Neum Bay and the Bay of Mali Ston.

According to the opinion from Circle 99, a necessary revision of the Croatian Maritime Code must be demanded in the part that stipulates how the straight baselines are drawn /the area between Korčula and Hvar/.

- With the mentioned law, Croatia, by unilaterally declaring internal sea waters, has closed off Bosnian-Herzegovinian waters, thus ensuring that vessels from and to Neum cannot freely pass through Croatian internal sea waters and its territorial sea. Even if the territorial sea of the Republic of Croatia remains in this sea area, it should be sought that an international shipping lane runs through the middle of such an area with unimpeded and non-suspendable rights to freedom of navigation and overflight, as was done in the area of the Gulf of Aqaba by the Peace Agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1979 – states Circle 99.

They add that it should also be emphasized that the construction of a permanent structure at sea (Pelješac Bridge) with which Croatia wants to connect its land territory does not necessarily represent the biggest problem for BiH. However, this is only if the aforementioned previous issues are permanently legally resolved and if the eventual bridge meets all the technical characteristics of bridges built over or across international shipping lanes or straits with an international legal regime. Therefore, the basic approach is to define the legal regime of the sea area where the eventual construction of the Pelješac Bridge would take place.

Circle 99 reminds that a corridor is not the same as „innocent passage“, which is characteristic exclusively of the territorial sea of a coastal state, but not of its internal sea waters. 

- BiH must have a free corridor, believes the Association of Independent Intellectuals, which will correspond to the freedoms of the open sea, primarily the freedom of navigation and overflight. 

- All diplomatic and legal means must be used for the peaceful resolution of this international dispute, for which a unified institutional stance of the state of BiH must be ensured – is the conclusion of Circle 99.