SARAJEVO – A summit of representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia will take place in Sarajevo on Monday due to Croatia’s decision on non-tariff barriers in import of agricultural products, N1 reports.
Representatives of these countries sent a joint note to European Commission following this decision.
Croatia expanded its list of fruits and vegetables from third countries that are subject to phytosanitary border control. Croatia also set up tax rates that are 22 times higher than previous ones. Serbia Government has already send a note to Croatian Government and the European Commission following this decision.
“This unilateral non-tariff barrier directly affects long-term trade agreements of Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnia and Herzegovina suppliers of fruit and vegetable exports to Croatia. Consequently, the producers and traders from these countries outside the EU, which are in the process of accession to the EU, are placed in an unequal position by the significant increase in the final price of the given products”, N1 reports that the letter states.
The letter says that this decision is against the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and the countries in question and that the decision could seriously damage the current free trade regime between these countries and EU.
“At the same time, these unilateral measures could result in the disconnection of trade values chains that make us more competitive on the domestic as well as in the European unified market, and represent the cornerstone of the economic development of the region on its path to the EU”, states the letter, reports N1.