Why Our Political Elite Does Not Demand BiH's Property from Croatia

Members of the BiH Presidency are traveling to Croatia next week for an official visit. A joint session of the government of Tihomir Orešković and the BiH Council of Ministers has also been announced. Presumably in Sarajevo, once the BiH presidents return from Zagreb.

It is already becoming apparent that the main topic of the meeting in Zagreb will be the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).

Simply put, Bosnia and Herzegovina is being asked to open its borders to goods from Croatia at a zero customs rate. This is, after all, also demanded for goods from the remaining 27 member states of the European Union.

Analysts warn - this will cause great economic damage to the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially agriculture. Nevertheless, appeals do not help much. The European Union is relentless, international laws must be respected if BiH wants to leave the ghetto. Above all, the economic one.

When I think about it a bit more, perhaps this is not a bad time for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting in Zagreb is an opportunity to reach an agreement with our western neighbours. We open our borders to them, they return our property in Croatia to us. The countries of the former Yugoslavia signed the Agreement on Succession back in 2004. It was agreed that the republics of the former Yugoslavia would have their property returned.

This mostly involves valuable real estate.

Naive Bosnia and Herzegovina returned every last square metre to Croatia. Almost on the very day the Agreement was signed. Dozens of Zagreb shops today again operate in Sarajevo, in their own premises. And they earn well. Not to mention that Croatia also produces electricity in BiH, from which the people of Livno and Duvno have almost no benefit.

Unfortunately, Croatia has not returned a single brick to Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day. It is estimated that real estate of Bosnia and Herzegovina worth several hundred million euros lies in Croatia. For the most part, these are hotels and buildings of failed companies.

What the Stabilisation and Association Agreement means for Croats would mean for us the resolution of the so-called passive balance. Because, by taking possession of that enormous property, it would mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina could convert the real estate into money. That money could be used to purchase pensionable service for all those workers in the country who cannot secure a pension. We will not exaggerate if we say that Bosnia and Herzegovina could feed thousands of hungry mouths.

Therefore, we should expect our political leaders to finally demand reciprocity and show that they have a stance, at least when it comes to respecting the law and international agreements of their state, such as the one on the Succession of States arising from the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia.

If Croatia respected international agreements in its relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it hypocritically demands that Bosnia and Herzegovina respect them, it would greatly strengthen the economic sovereignty of our country. You are sovereign to the extent that you are economically sovereign. And it is obvious that Bosnia and Herzegovina has more and more problems with economic sovereignty. Our western neighbours are significantly hindering us in this.