prijava
SARAJEVO, July 31 (FENA) - The FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić said today that there are 2,300 employees in Zenica and 850 in Prijedor that are directly involved in the steel production line, pointing out that indirectly there are additional 10,000 employees in the railways, power distribution, natural gas companies, the mines to smaller companies and local contractors.
“The protection measures of the European Union for the import of steel and steel products came as a reaction to the measures imposed by the United States of America out of fear that the quantities of steel intended for the US market could be redirected to the European Union market.
The European Union protection measures are not a quota based on last year export averages of a particular exporting country, but rather a global quota based on "first come first served", said Novalić.
According to Novalić, the current quota can be exhausted at any time in the upcoming period, and then all export steel and steel products from BiH, which adhere to these measures, would be subject to tariffs of 25 percent, even though BiH has not yet reached the level of exports from previous years.
“For Bosnia and Herzegovina, this means that not only could there be a problem with the restriction of exports to the territory of the European Union, but we can also expect increased imports in Bosnia and Herzegovina when the quota for imports to the European Union is reached. The quota will be firstly filled by major exporters such as Turkey, CIS countries, etc., while Bosnia and Herzegovina exports smaller quantities of steel,” said Novalić.
“After 200 days of review, the EU will make the final decision on the possible Country Quota based on last year export averages of the exporting country,” Novalić said.
Given that BiH has signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, which regulates the relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU, and which also implies free trade and the abolition of customs, FBiH Prime Minister believes that BiH should be exempt from the protective measures.
(FENA) S. R.
