The US Embassy in Sarajevo reacted to the statements by Bosnian Croat politician and the leader of the HDZ BiH party Dragan Covic, who recently presented his proposal of a law on the Southern Interconnection Gas Pipeline, which stipulates the establishment of a company for the gas transport in Mostar, as well as a proposal on changes to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which he said was “in line with what this party advocated together with gentlemen from the US administration for the past three to four years.” The embassy denied the allegations and conveyed a clear message.

“The Southern Interconnection Gas Pipeline with Croatia is of key importance for energy security and economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Southern Interconnection would ensure the gas supply for households and businesses throughout Herzegovina and other parts of the Federation (FBiH). The gas would come through the Republic of Croatia and contribute to the economic and demographic revitalisation of these areas. However, the project cannot proceed without the adoption of the necessary laws. We continue to appeal to the Government and Parliament of the Federation (FBiH) to adopt the version of the Law on the Southern Interconnection that passed the FBiH House of Representatives in December 2021. Mr. Covic's party initially supported this law, which was adopted by the FBiH House of Representatives in December 2021, and even helped draft it together with other domestic actors and international experts, including USAID,” the embassy recalled.

It also noted that the Federation entity (FBiH) currently has one gas transport company – BH Gas, just as Croatia, with also one company for this purpose, assessing Covic's idea inappropriate.

“Mr. Covic's proposal to form a new transport company, which currently does not exist, has no employees, no experience, no possibility to secure stable financing, is not sustainable and will bury this project. BH Gas, as Federation's operator for gas transport and a member of the European network of operators in charge of gas transport in the capacity of observer, is the only organisation with the capacity to implement this project. The United States supported reforms in BH Gas in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the company, and ensure better representation, all with the goal of successful implementation of the Southern Interconnection project. This would include the establishment of a regional office of BH Gas in Mostar, which would enable the management of the Southern Interconnection project,” the embassy told N1, urging HDZ BiH leader to “put the public interest first, to stop blocking key legislation and to support, without delay, the adoption of the version of the Southern Interconnection Law adopted by the FBiH House of Representatives in December 2021”.

As for the amendments to the Election Law proposed by the Croat politician, the embassy said that the “solutions” he proposed are unclear.

“But, if he is talking about the HDZ BiH proposal that the election of the Croat member of the three-member Presidency of BiH is resolved by amending the Election Law of BiH, then he also knows that international legal experts, representatives of the international community, including the USA and the EU, and the political leaders of BiH rejected those proposals during the negotiations on constitutional/electoral reforms in the period 2021-2022 which were facilitated by the USA and the EU,” the embassy said.

HDZ BiH’s Covic presents proposal of changes to Bosnia’s Election Law

It also emphasised the necessity of aligning the Constitution with the relevant decisions of the international bodies.

“At the time of these negotiations, international legal experts underlined that amendments to the Constitution of BiH are needed in order to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and that the proposal of HDZ BiH to create a permanent second list for the election of a member of the Presidency, related to a specific ethno-territorial election border within the Federation, would not be in accordance with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights,” the embassy underlined.