Opposition in BiH Demands Authorities to Urgently Halt Construction of the Pelješac Bridge

Opposition parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina accused the ruling structures in the country on Monday, particularly officials from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), of failing to respond to the signing of the contract for the commencement of the Pelješac Bridge construction and called for intervention from the European Commission to halt the implementation of this project, which they consider detrimental to the interests of BiH.

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From the largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party of BiH (SDP BiH), the news of the signing of the contract for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge was met with a call to the Presidency of BiH and the Council of Ministers to urgently request the European Commission to suspend the financing of this project.

“It is evident that this is a violation of the sovereignty of BiH that cannot and must not be tolerated,” states a statement sent to the media from the SDP headquarters in Sarajevo.

From this party, they called on the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH and SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović, as well as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić, to inform the public about what they intend to do “against the unilateral actions of the Croatian authorities that undermine the sovereignty of BiH and its long-term interests.”

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The SDP believes that there is no willingness in Croatia to reach an agreement on this issue that burdens the relations between the two countries, and thus they must now behave accordingly in BiH.

“If Zvizdić and Izetbegović cannot or do not know how to act, they should step down from their positions because the interests of BiH must not be held hostage to anyone’s cowardice or incompetence,” states the statement from SDP BiH.

The Pelješac Bridge has evidently become yet another topic in the long-ongoing pre-election campaign in BiH, and thus the Democratic Front (DF), led by Željko Komšić, immediately responded.

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The Vice President of that party, Damir Bećirović, called it an “illegal act and usurpation” of part of BiH’s territory, specifically its sea.

“Through various manipulations by HDZ officials in both countries, this has come to pass,” Bećirović said for N1 television, calling on the state leadership to react immediately and, to start with, send a protest note to Croatia.

The Independent Bloc, a newly established party that aims to attract a significant part of the Bosniak political body, mostly consisting of former SDA members, also expressed its opinion.

The President of the Independent Bloc and current representative in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, Senad Šepić, stated that the signing of the contract for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge is “a direct attack on the sovereignty and reputation of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has lost not only access to the open sea but also its dignity”.

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“While Croatia celebrates a project worth around 526 million euros today, BiH has lost its sovereignty and access to the open sea. The Croatian authorities today signed a capitulation of BiH with the Chinese, which no one protected based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” said Šepić.

Within BiH, there is actually no consensus on the approach to the Pelješac Bridge project, but the Bosniak side insists that the issue of maritime delimitation, specifically in the Neum Bay, must be resolved before construction begins.