Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković stated on Thursday that there are no legal barriers to the commencement of the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, and emphasized that Croatia has so far contracted 93 percent of the available funds from the European CEF fund, deeming it a successful example of contracting and drawing EU funds.
– There are no legal barriers to the commencement of construction and to the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, said Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković on Thursday.
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– Croatia has confirmed the right of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to innocent passage through Croatian maritime space, territorial waters, and internal waters for all ships sailing to and from the port of Neum towards Croatia and the EEZ, as well as Article 45 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which regulates the right of innocent passage between a part of the open sea or exclusive economic zone, in this case, the Croatian EEZ and the territorial sea of another state, he added.
As he pointed out, it is indisputable that Croatia is building the Pelješac Bridge on its territory, which is located 500 meters from the demarcation line.
– This means that there are no legal barriers or any other obstacles to the commencement of the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, and Croatia will build the Pelješac Bridge, he asserted.
Two Bosniak parliamentary representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday requested from the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani assistance in stopping the construction of the Pelješac Bridge until the issue of the maritime border between BiH and Croatia at the Neum Bay is resolved, continuing the months-long attacks by Bosniak leaders on this key Croatian project.
Šefik Džaferović and Safet Softić stated in their letter that BiH has never given formal consent for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, and therefore it should not be built. They claim that Croatia’s construction of the bridge threatens the sovereignty of BiH and violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea because, in their opinion, it insists on building the bridge on an international shipping route from BiH to the open sea.
Such an “aggressive approach,” according to Džaferović and Softić, threatens to grossly disrupt the geopolitical order in the Adriatic Sea and jeopardizes the sovereignty and stability of BiH as a maritime state.
>>>Dodik: Croatia has the right to the Pelješac Bridge
The President of the ruling Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegović expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday with the behavior of the European Commission regarding the decision to co-finance the construction of the Pelješac Bridge. No one from Brussels asked anyone from BiH about this, and Izetbegović considers this unacceptable.
Butković described what is happening in BiH as “a reflection of the internal state in the neighboring country.” He noted that he received two letters – one from the Minister of Civil Affairs requesting to stop the construction and another from the Minister of Justice stating that there are no obstacles.
– I would not go into the contents of those letters, said Butković, reminding that the Croatian and Bosnian sides jointly established the technical characteristics of the bridge at the request of BiH back in 2006, and noted that BiH’s requests were for the height of the bridge to be 55 meters and the width of the shipping lane to be 200 meters.
The Croatian side accepted this and incorporated it into the Pelješac Bridge project, Butković stated, assessing that everything was done in good neighborly relations both in 2006 and continues to be today.
Regarding the conference on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) titled “Achievements, Results, and a Look into the Future,” which is being held in Dubrovnik organized by the Ministry, Butković stated that Croatia has so far contracted 93 percent of the available funds from this fund, which is approximately 450 million euros, for large infrastructure projects located on European transport corridors.
>>>Plenković: The Pelješac Bridge project will continue, BiH will still have free access to the sea
– This is an example of successful contracting and drawing of funds. I am personally happy about the transport sector, and now the absorption of EU funds is slowly increasing in other sectors as well, said the minister, adding that this gives hope and optimism that large infrastructure projects will commence, which will increase GDP.
When asked by journalists about the future of the highway to Dubrovnik, Butković said that they are slowly preparing for the next operational period, after 2020, large infrastructure projects, including the construction of that highway, adding that the construction of the Adriatic-Ionian corridor is one of the priorities.
– Now we have discussions, agreements, and project preparations for the next operational period ahead of us, concluded Butković.
