CONNECTIONS BROKEN OVER CROATIAN INTERCONNECTION: Čović's Appointee to Lead BH-Gas for Realization of 'National Interests'

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

---

It was way back in 2017, when the FBiH Government at its 106th session held on June 15, 2017 unanimously adopted a Conclusion tasking BH-Gas to intensify activities on the Southern Interconnection project. All ministers in the FBiH Government voted for this Conclusion, regardless of party or ethnic affiliation. 

After that, in 2020, the Energy Community published a list of projects that received the green light as projects of interest for certain countries, where under point 3 on that list is the Southern Interconnection, which will be realized with the participation of Plinacro and BH-Gas.

And then the problem arises, reflected in the company BH-Gas!? At that time, the head of this company was Jasmin Salkić, who strongly advocated for this project, and in order to remove him from this position, they ultimately did not adopt his work report, which was extremely successful.

In 2021, the interconnection point of the two gas pipelines was defined, signed by Plinacro and BH-Gas. The problem arose the moment amendments to the Law on the Southern Interconnection were submitted, seeking the deletion of BH-Gas from the law and the insertion of a new company, „Southern Gas Interconnection“ in its place. The Croatian National Assembly also addressed this issue through a declaration, stating that this connection is of national interest for the Croatian people.

At the same time, there is now a problem with the interstate agreement with the Republic of Croatia, because the documents there refer only to BH-Gas; the new company is not mentioned because it did not even exist when the document was created.

Almir Bečarević, a gas policy expert, has repeatedly stated publicly that official Zagreb, through a "wink," suggested to the Croatian gas transport company Plinacro not to extend the Memorandum of Understanding on the construction of the Southern Gas Interconnection, thereby rendering everything done between Plinacro and BH-Gas regarding the Southern Interconnection void. 

The Memorandum was the basic document that started work on this project 17 years ago (2006). The reason for this "wink" is the formation of the company „Southern Gas Interconnection“, owned by cantons in the FBiH with a Croatian majority.

But now that Dragan Čović is running the Federation Government (according to his own claims, he agreed on the session agenda with Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić), there is an option for the HDZ to appoint their man to the head of BH-Gas, so that the company in Herzegovina does not need to be established.

Incidentally, Nikšić withdrew all laws, including the Law on the Southern Interconnection, and the relevant ministers will decide whether and in what form to return the laws to the Federation Parliament.
One thing is certain: the previously proposed law on the Southern Interconnection, adopted in the House of Representatives, will not be returned in the same form, and there is also the problem that the Southern Interconnection is linked to the Eastern Interconnection, so it goes to the Council of Ministers of BiH as a package with this story.

Now neither Željko Komšić nor Denis Bećirović are ready to support the New Eastern Interconnection project, nor the Southern Interconnection, without the adoption of a state-level gas law. But Milorad Dodik is in a hurry, and accordingly, today Nenad Nešić, the Minister of Security of BiH, reacted by sending an open letter to Komšić!?

And, the adoption of this law would also solve a number of problems that BiH has with the Energy Community of the European Union, which has initiated several sanction procedures against BiH.

However, on this issue as well, compromise should be shown by the Troika and the team, and certainly not by the HDZ and SNSD, while the leaders of the NIP and SDP assure us that all projects are desirable and in the interest of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But, these interests of all citizens of BiH apparently cannot be placed above the interests of Čović and Dodik!?