Pressure pays off: Croatia returns fruit and vegetable inspection fee to 90 kuna

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia will publish a new regulation on the amount of fees for the import of fruits and vegetables from third countries on Friday, Nova TV reported, as conveyed by the Patria News Agency.

As Nova TV learns, the inspection supervision fee will no longer be 2000 kuna, but 90 kuna. It was precisely the amount of this fee that caused strong reactions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia, which are not members of the European Union, and which announced serious countermeasures.

Before the amendments, this fee was also 90 kuna per truck, while the amendment increased it to 2000 kuna, but per type of fruit and vegetable. Now it is returning to 90 kuna, but per type of fruit and vegetable, and no longer per truck.

Fruit control remains in effect, and every shipment entering Croatia must be free of damage, and the fruit must be healthy and ripe.

From Friday, there will no longer be blockades at the borders, and the prices of inspection supervision fees will be analyzed in cooperation with neighboring countries to ensure consumer protection.

The Croatian Ministry of Agriculture expects a swift meeting on the topic of the use of agrochemical agents that are not approved in the European Union.

Due to the conflict that erupted after the Croatian Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić introduced the controversial regulation, Croatian farmers also protested, demanding that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković react urgently.

SDP MPs in Croatia have initiated an initiative for a joint session of the parliamentary committees for economy and agriculture to be held in the Parliament tomorrow due to the current crisis.

We remind you that at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirko Šarović, Rasim Ljajić, Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications of Serbia, Dragica Sekulić, Minister of Economy of Montenegro, and Ljupčo Nikolovski, Minister of Agriculture in the Government of Macedonia, held an urgent meeting in Sarajevo on Monday.

The meeting of the competent ministers from the region was held on the occasion of the entry into force of the Regulation on inspection supervision and control of the conformity of fruits and vegetables with market standards in the Republic of Croatia.