SA: Croatia requested BiH to return customs duties collected from 2013 to date

Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be able to protect its agricultural production from companies from the European Union. If it manages to do so in part through the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), borders will have to be opened sooner or later, and certainly when Bosnia and Herzegovina becomes a member of the European Union, writes Patria.

Therefore, domestic producers do not need protection in this way, but rather incentives that will make them competitive with producers from the EU.

Mirko Šarović, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers of BiH, also spoke on this topic yesterday. Nezavisne reported that Šarović said that BiH needs to support domestic production, because the word "protection" does not exist in Brussels. But, he continued, it should also be known that entity incentives for agriculture in BiH are 30 percent lower compared to four or five years ago.

- Where is this leading - Šarović wondered.

The second round of negotiations between the delegations of the European Commission and BiH on the adaptation of the SAA, in the part related to trade between BiH and EU member states, ended in Brussels yesterday. Representatives from Republika Srpska still maintain the position that the agriculture and food industry of Republika Srpska are not ready for the adaptation of the SAA to the EU's request at this moment. The BiH delegation claims that the positions between BiH and the European Commission have been further brought closer.

It is interesting that Croatia continues its brutal approach towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the negotiations in Brussels, they requested that the amended SAA, after being adopted, begin to be applied retroactively, i.e., from July 1, 2013, when Croatia joined the EU. This would mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina would have to return already collected customs duties to neighboring Croatia.

Member of the BiH negotiation team from RS, Miljan Erbez, confirmed this information to Patria, but said that the BiH delegation did not want to agree to Croatia's demands, writes Patria.