Zvizdić considers the signing of the contract for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge an incorrect procedure

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Zvizdić, announced on Monday that he will personally ask Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković not to build the Pelješac Bridge until the open border issue between the two countries is resolved, and that he will request the same from the European Commission.

In Zvizdić’s statement sent to the media in BiH regarding the signing of the contract for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, it is emphasized that it is surprising that Croatia decided to ignore open questions and proceed with the signing of this document.

“This represents an incorrect and unfriendly act, which does not respect international standards and facts and the interests of the state of BiH,” Zvizdić’s position is.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH reminds that in September last year he sent a letter to Croatian Prime Minister Plenković, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, and European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu informing them that “no body of government in BiH has ever given consent for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge and that the determination of the interstate border on land and at sea is and remains a necessary precondition for such a project to be realized at all.”

Zvizdić explains that he expected that after that a meeting would be organized at a technical level to define, verify, and accept the international shipping route, or corridor that would physically connect the Bosnian-Herzegovinian sea over which BiH has full sovereignty with the open sea, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

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“It is surprising that all efforts of both BiH and the European Commission to achieve dialogue and resolve this problem in mutual interest have been ignored by the authorities in Croatia, who decided to sign the construction contract today, disregarding relevant facts and the existing dispute, which will only complicate and increase with such neighborly relations, as we will persistently continue to seek the guaranteed right of BiH to access the open sea by all available legal means,” Zvizdić’s statement reads.

Representatives of Hrvatske ceste and the Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation signed the contract for the construction of the land-Pelješac bridge with access roads on Monday, worth 2.08 billion kuna (excluding VAT).

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The contract was signed by the CEO of Hrvatske ceste, Josip Škorić, and the authorized representative of the consortium/community of bidders, Zhang Xiaoyuan.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated before the signing of this contract that the Pelješac Bridge is a project that makes Croatia unique.