The Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle chaired a trilateral meeting of the European Commission with delegations of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina led by Foreign Ministers Vesna Pusič and Zlatko Lagumdžija to discuss the issues related to the forthcoming accession of Croatia to the EU and its impact on Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the Commission’s side the meeting was also attended by Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Johannes Hahn, Sim Kallas and John Dalli.

The Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli asked his Services  to continue providing   technical assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the alignment of the legislation relating to food safety, as well as veterinary and phytosanitary affairs. The Commission encouraged the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to speed up their work in order to meet all necessary EU requirements, including the upgrade of the administrative control structures and clarification of the chains of command and control, in order to allow the export of agricultural products of animal origin to the EU.

The Commission committed itself to launch very soon the necessary procedures for a Commission Decision through which the transit of many agricultural products of animal origin between Metković and the Port of Ploče would be ensured.

The Commission took note of the various interests of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Neum/Ploče area and recalled the importance of ensuring full acquis compliance at the EU’s future external border.

The Commission called upon Bosnia and Herzegovina to make all possible efforts to accelerate the work relating to the planned access road to the new Border Crossing Point at Metković II.

A pre-feasibility study funded by the EU will be launched in order to assess various transport infrastructure options, including sealed road corridor, ferry and bridge, to ensure a reliable and sustainable connection between the area of Dubrovnik and the North-West Croatian mainland. Bosnia and Herzegovina will be associated to the preparation of this study. The assessment of the progress on these issues will be done at the next trilateral meeting to be held in Brussels at the beginning of December.