Politics

Bosnian Officials Argue about Pelješac Bridge, EU Council President Ignores Them

By 27 April 2018

ZAGREB, April 27, 2018 - The two most senior Bosniak and Croat officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina used European Council President Donald Tusk's visit on Thursday to confront their views on Croatia's plan to build a bridge between the Peljašac peninsula and the mainland.

Tusk visited Sarajevo on Thursday as part of his Western Balkans tour. He held talks with members of the Bosnian collective presidency and attended the signing of an agreement between representatives of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers and the European Investment Bank on loans worth 150 million euro earmarked for the construction of two new sections of the highway along Corridor Vc connecting Ploče in Croatia and Budapest in Hungary.

The Chairman of the Bosnian Presidency Bakir Izetbegović used his statement to the press to highlight the issue of the Pelješac Bridge, publicly asking Tusk to "help" find a satisfactory solution.

The Croat member of the presidency Dragan Ćović also broke the protocol, saying that Izetbegovic's position was not the country's official position but his own.

Tusk ignored the issue of the Pelješac bridge and focused on the coming EU-Western Balkans summit scheduled for May 17 in Sofia.

After Sarajevo, Tusk travelled to the Macedonian capital Skopje, the final destination on his tour.

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