Thematic Session of the Environmental Protection Committee

Date: 
10.04.2023 - 15:30

The Thematic Session the Environmental Protection Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska about the jurisdiction of the institutions of the Republic of Srpska and Bosna and Herzegovina following the intention of the Republic of Croatia to dispose of radioactive and nuclear waste at the Trgovska Gora location in the immediate vicinity of the border with the Republic of Srpska and BiH was held today in the parliament.

At the Thematic Session chaired by the chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee Maksim Skoko, the following participant addressed the present audience: the Minister for Spatial Planning, construction, and Ecology Bojan Vipotnik, Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Stasa Kosarac, the member of the legal team for the creation of the Strategy for the law protection of the Republic of Srpska’ interests in relation with the disposal of the radioactive and nuclear waste at the Trgovska Gora location Nemanja Galic and the chairman of the Expert Team for following the state and the activity in relation with the issue of disposing of the radioactive and nuclear waste at the Trgovska Gora location.

“The Thematic Session aims to analyze the competent institutions’ activities and the competent institutions and to focus on the next steps. It is the right moment to alarm institutions, media, NGOs, and the academic community to help us in order to prevent this waste disposal. The Environmental Protection Committee will make conclusions in the ten-day period and deliver them to all relevant institutions of the Republic of Srpska and BiH.”, stressed the chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee Maksim Skoko.

The Minister for Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of the Republic of Srpska Bojan Vipotnik stressed that the disposal of nuclear waste at the very border is unacceptable.

The Republic of Srpska is ready to begin with one more process of studies which will confirm that the Trgovska Gora location does not fulfill any condition for nuclear waste disposal. The Government of the Republic of Srpska gave million convertible marks for this purpose and in cooperation with the Expert Team and all the institutions of Srpska, an action plan was prepared, which was adopted at the recently held Government session," Vipotnik said.

BiH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Stasa Kosarac pointed out that in 2019 an initiative was launched to solve this problem.

"I'm sorry that the pace has slowed down when it comes to work from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I believe that the appointment of the Government will speed things up." We submitted all remarks and suggestions within the given deadline. We are in contact with the representatives of the Republic of Slovenia, where we found a certain understanding that Trgovska gora is not a good location for this facility," said Kosarac.

He adds that their goal is to prevent the Republic of Croatia from building this landfill. "We are not satisfied with the reaction from the European Union regarding this topic," Kosarac said.

"The impact study done by Croatia does not include alternative locations for waste disposal, which is against the rules." "We have started the consultation process and the Republic of Srpska will provide timely legal answers," said Galić.

He said that thirty days were left for Bosnia and Herzegovina to comment on the proposed Environmental Impact Judge.

"Many subjects made objections to that document, and we asked for another thirty days so that everyone could submit their comments, but we did not receive a response to that deadline extension, so as a precaution, we submitted the comments we had," said Galic.

The Chairman of the Expert Team, Emir Dizdarević, assessed that BiH is not late in solving this problem.

"We have an exact plan of what we need to do." If you build such a facility on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, you are taking a risk, and the consequences are uncertain," said Dizdarević. He emphasized that the experts submitted forty objections to the content of the Impact Study.

The Thematic session was attended by: Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska Anja Ljubojević, Minister of Trade and Tourism in the Government of the Republic of Srpska Denis Sulic, members of the Committee for Environmental Protection, MPs, representatives of competent institutions of the Republic of Srpska and BiH, as well as representatives of international organizations and local communities threatened by Croatia's intentions to dispose radioactive and nuclear waste at the Trgovska gora location.