The Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, said on Friday that the dispute between Bosnia and Croatia over pre-war property must be solved so that it is returned to its rightful owners.
The quarrel over Bosnia’s property in Croatia is dragging on for decades and came back into focus after Croatia recently adopted controversial laws that Bosnians believe could lead to them losing numerous hotels on the Adriatic coast, as well as other buildings.
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That property must be returned to the rightful owners, Dodik told reporters in the Serbian city of Nis.
“That’s our property. Croatia was not acting correctly when it imposed solutions that enabled it to rent out other people’s property,” Dodik said.
“It could have forced the owners to do something with it but it could have not use the property and on the top of that to ban the owner of even approaching it for the next 20 years,” he said.
He also touched upon other open issues between the two countries, such as the construction of the Peljesac Bridge.
The bridge is supposed to link the Croatian mainland and the Peljesac Peninsula, bypassing a 15 kilometre-long strip around the city of Neum which is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only coast on the Adriatic Sea.
Predominantly Bosniak political parties are opposing the construction of the Peljesac Bridge because they believe it might prevent large vessels from entering Bosnia's Bay of Neum, threatening the country’s access to the open sea.
“Some in Bosnia and Herzegovina believe that this issue should be brought before international courts. I think the Peljesac Bridge is a done deal and that it is up to Croatia, but it creates problems regarding state relations,” he said.
