Sanader: We will build the bridge, we do not need consent on our territory

The President of HDZ and the Croatian Government, Ivo Sanader, today dismissed any arguments from Bosnia and Herzegovina that Croatia is not building the Pelješac Bridge in its territorial waters, emphasizing that Croatia does not need consent for the construction of that bridge.

He also rejected the IMF’s assessment that Croatia and Bulgaria are the countries most threatened by a financial crisis. "I firmly reject any arguments from Bosnia and Herzegovina that we are not building in our territorial waters," Sanader said at the evening session of the HDZ Central Committee, where he presented program guidelines for the upcoming electoral campaign. He reminded that Croatia has negotiated with Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a friendly neighboring country, on all disputed points, and that the mixed commission has determined all parameters, from the height of the bridge to the spacing between the supporting pillars, so that Croatia can legally connect its territory, while Bosnia and Herzegovina has the right to unobstructed passage to the Neum port.

He also recalled that the initialed agreement did not receive the green light at the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina because it was opposed by Bosniak ministers. "But we will build the bridge and we have nothing to seek consent for on our territory," emphasized Sanader. He added that the Pelješac Bridge is not an alternative to the highway through Neum, which Croatia will build in cooperation with the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rejecting the IMF’s assessment that Croatia and Bulgaria are the countries most threatened by a financial crisis, he reminded that "the same IMF just a year ago praised Croatia and assessed that we can independently conduct economic policy, without a stand-by arrangement." He emphasized that the Government regularly services the debt of the central state and that it will reduce the budget deficit to zero by 2010. "For the rest, we must ask what monetary policy is doing," said Sanader, adding that HDZ supports the HNB’s policy of a fixed exchange rate and opposes a floating exchange rate and the depreciation of the kuna.

When asked to comment on claims from some media that he personally prevented the arrest of the head of Zagrebački holding, Slobodan Ljubičić, because it would not suit HDZ in the campaign, Sanader assessed that this is speculation aimed at misinforming the public and undermining the advantage that polls give to HDZ. "HDZ is on the rise, SDP is falling, and that is where all the speculation comes from," said Sanader.  (H)