Bosnia renounces proposal for countermeasures against Croatia

NEWS 29.06.202013:52
MVPBiH

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic said on Monday she would withdraw her proposal to impose countermeasures on Croatia by banning Croatian nationals from transiting through Neum after Zagreb announced that it would soon ease the measures against her country.

Last week Croatia introduced a two-week quarantine for all people entering from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo following a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the country. In the meantime, misunderstandings have arisen over citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina travelling to Neum via Croatia.

Turkovic announced countermeasures against Croatia on Sunday after travellers from Bosnia were stopped at the Doljani-Metkovic border crossing from transiting through Croatia to reach Neum.

Neum is the only town on the Bosnian stretch of the Adriatic coast where the Croatian coastline is split in two, leaving the Dubrovnik area cut off from the rest of Croatia.

Speaking in an interview with the Klix news website, Turkovic said she had discussed the matter on Sunday evening with the Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlic-Radman. She said that Radman had told her that, following consultations with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, Croatia would ease the border crossing regime with Bosnia.

The Croatian government announced on Twitter on Sunday evening that the measures providing for a two-week quarantine for all citizens of Bosnia entering Croatia would be lifted. The decision has provoked great discontent among Bosnians who traditionally spend their summer holidays on the Croatian Adriatic.