President of the Assembly Andrija Mandic took over the authority of the Government, which can only negotiate on the use of the Montenegrin part of the transboundary waters of the Trebišnjica River and the Bileć Lake, the economic analyst said Dejan Mijović.
"Unfortunately, our government does not do that, but allows that water to be used for free by our neighbors Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia for over 30 years," Mijović said to "Vijesta", commenting on Mandić's meeting with representatives of the electricity companies of Montenegro and Republika Srpska (RS). Municipality of Nikšić and the city of Trebinje, on the topic of using the hydro potential of Bileć Lake, which is partly located on the territory of Montenegro.
The meeting was held in the Parliament of Montenegro, about which the Cabinet of the Speaker of the Parliament informed the public. The meeting with Mandić was attended by his party colleagues - the president of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG). Milutin Djukanovic and the president of the Municipality of Nikšić Marko Kovacevic, as well as the general director of Elektroprivreda RS Luka Petrović and the mayor of Trebinje Mirko Ćurić.
Mijović believes that when negotiating with the representatives of the RS, the President of the Parliament of Montenegro is saying that he is in solidarity with the leadership of that entity, which claims that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not exist, and that it has no jurisdiction over state borders and transboundary waters.
"With this gesture, he at the same time validates the intentions of the leader of the RS (Milorad) Dodika to separate the RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina if the latter continues to insist on its right to exist and dispose of state borders and waters. It further inflames regional tensions instead of working on its reconciliation and European integration as it claims," Mijović said.
The representative of the Social Democrats (SD) also believes that the President of the Assembly gives himself much greater powers than those set for him by the Constitution. Branislav Nenezić.
"It is obvious that Mr. Mandić has common political mentors and marketing advisors as well as the president of the state (Jakov) Milatović, because both of them give themselves much greater powers than they are given by the Constitution. This is how the presence of the president of the parliament can be characterized at the meeting of representatives of the municipality of Nikšić, the city of Trebinje, representatives of EPCG and Elektroprivreda RS, and related to the use of the hydro potential of Bileć Lake", said Nenezić.
Given that, as he said, Mandić was wearing a tie, it was an "official visit", the only question is in what capacity.
The Assembly did not answer that question to the "News".
According to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, the powers of the President of the Parliament are to convene the sessions of the Assembly and preside, to take care of the application of the Rules of Procedure, the organization of the work of the Assembly, the timely and coordinated work of working bodies, the reception and visits of foreign delegations and officials, and then to decide on official travel deputies abroad, if the expenses are borne by the funds of the Assembly, he signs the acts of the Assembly and "performs other tasks provided for by the Constitution, the law and the Rules of Procedure".
At the meeting with the representatives of the RS, as announced by the Assembly, it was apostrophized that a solution should be found as soon as possible in order to use the part of the waters located in Bilećko Lake, which belong to Montenegro, as well as concessions in the form of land that was submerged for the construction of the lake itself. lakes, valorize in favor of Montenegro, primarily the municipality of Nikšić.
Since 1968, Bileć Lake has been supplying BiH and Croatia with electricity through the Trebišnjica hydropower system, i.e. the Trebinje 1, Trebinje 2, Dubrovnik 1 and Čapljina hydropower plants. Although about 40 percent of the water flow comes from Montenegro, and about a fifth of the lake's surface is on its territory, Montenegro has not received compensation for a single kilowatt hour (KWh) of electricity from this system to date.
The Montenegrin authorities raised the issue several times, but did not persevere in solving it, leaving this significant potential to be fully used by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
Former, 42nd Prime Minister's Government Zdravka Krivokapića, while she was in a technical mandate in March 2022 (no confidence was voted against her in the parliament on February 4), she adopted information on the valorization of the waters of Bileć Lake and formed an expert team. A few months before that, they formed a working team within the EPCG, which deals with that issue.
"Mandić can informally ask Dodik to speed up the payment of compensation"
Mijović says that if he already wanted to help, Mandić could only do so in an informal capacity as the president of the New Serbian Democracy, which has excellent relations with Dodik's party (Union of Independent Social Democrats - SNSD).
"He could have asked this to influence Elektroprivreda RS to speed up the payment of fair compensation for the thirty-year illegal use of Montenegrin waters for the production of electricity, but not to the city of Nikšić, but to the state of Montenegro to which these waters belong," said Mijović.
This, he adds, would not solve the problem of comprehensive use of cross-border waters for economic and civil purposes, but would represent a good basis for further negotiations on this complex problem.
"Let's hope that this was the intention of the President of the Assembly and that he will confirm that his real desire is to speed up the negotiations between Montenegro and BiH on the use of the waters of Trebišnjica and Bileć Lake, as well as that he will succeed in convincing Mr. Dodik to accept the responsibility Bosnia and Herzegovina should negotiate with Montenegro about this and form an appropriate interstate commission, which has been waiting for years," Mijović said.
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