From Economy to Politics: All the Headaches Croatia Causes Bosnia and Herzegovina

By A. Aljović

Croatia's policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina is twofold, according to numerous analysts, who add that this situation between the two neighboring countries has persisted since the time of the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman in the 1990s, which, along with Serbia's identical stance, is one of the main problems of political and economic instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 years after the end of the war.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Marija Pejčinović-Burić today speak of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the most important strategic partner, while on the other hand, they take certain steps that largely destabilize relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as interfering in the country's internal affairs or often fueling inter-ethnic tensions, especially between Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks.

During a recent visit to some European countries and the USA, Croatian President Grabar-Kitarović spoke of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a nucleus of terrorists, who can later be seen on the Middle Eastern battlefields, which has caused great damage to Bosnia and Herzegovina, although President Grabar-Kitarović's statements were unargued.

Political analyst Adnan Huskić believes that Croatia's policy is such that it does not consider Bosnia and Herzegovina a sovereign state at all, but rather a creation in which Croats also live.

“Croatia has a policy that is continuous on two levels. One is functional, where Croatia helps BiH on its EU path in terms of some technical matters, and there is a lot of that, it cannot be said that the relations between the two countries are bad in that regard. However, as soon as we descend to the level of how Croatia views internal policy in BiH, a big problem arises. Because Croatia does not treat Bosnia and Herzegovina as a normal sovereign state but as something abnormal,” Huskić told the Patria agency in a commentary. He believes that only former Croatian President Stjepan Mesić made a departure from such a policy. However, he adds, with the HDZ coming to power, that amplitude grows again, or it decreases somewhat when the SDP is in power, but even then not to the extent that it should.

“Croatia views BiH exclusively through the Croatian issue, regardless of which political party is in power in Croatia. For example, Tonino Picula in the European Parliament represents the same interests as Dubravka Šuica,” says Huskić. Croatia's policy towards BiH is, he adds, clear and it always revolves around the matrix that things in BiH must proceed in the direction of consistent ethno-territorialization, federalization, and consociation.

“Croatia does not see BiH as a country where citizens live, but as a place where Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats live. Croatia's policy always and exclusively sides with parties with a Croatian prefix in BiH,” says Huskić. However, such a policy, it is clear, also harms Bosnian Croats, which is evident from their mass departure from BiH.

Speaking about the relations between Croatia and BiH, numerous other analysts warn that Croatia is using the shaky political situation in BiH and, under the guise of good neighborly relations, is also causing economic damage to Bosnia and Herzegovina. BiH has the largest trade exchange with Croatia, but imports into BiH from Croatia are about 50 percent higher than exports.

Nearly three decades after the breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia has not returned real estate to Bosnia and Herzegovina that belonged to it after the breakup of the common state, while BiH has settled those obligations towards the Croatian state. It is estimated that real estate belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina, worth hundreds of millions of euros, is located in Croatia. These are mostly hotels and buildings of BiH companies destroyed by the war.

Croatia is blocking Bosnia and Herzegovina's rights to the Port of Šibenik, petrol stations of Energopetrol disappeared under unclear circumstances on Croatian territory, and Croatian INA suspiciously bought the oil giant Energopetrol in BiH.

The construction of the accumulation Buško Lake was jointly carried out in the seventies of the last century by the then authorities of Croatia and BiH, with the Hydroelectric Power Plant Orlovac built in a municipality in Croatia, while the accumulation was built in BiH, in the area of the municipalities of Tomislavgrad and Livno. Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) has been extracting millions for years for electricity production through HE Orlovac, while the municipalities of Tomislavgrad and Livno in BiH receive only crumbs from this largest artificial lake in Europe.

Furthermore, solely through the Konzum retail chain, Croatia drains hundreds of millions of convertible marks annually from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a single retail chain in Croatia. There are also some other issues with which Croatia burdens BiH. The latest burden is the construction of the Pelješac Bridge in the Malostons Bay, with which Croatia wants to connect a part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton with the rest of the mainland. Although the Pelješac Bridge would mean a blockade for Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the open sea, the Croatian government announces that it will not give up on building the bridge.