Meeting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of BiH PA, Denis Bećirović with the Speaker of Slovenian Parliament, Janko Veber in Brdo, Kranj


Today the Speaker of the House of Representatives of BiH PA, Denis Bećirović talked with the Speaker of the Slovenian Parliament, Janko Veber, in the Kranj Brdo area. Denis Bećirović thanked President Veber for the current support of the Republic of Slovenia to the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of BiH, emphasizing that the two parliaments may assist one another in creating a framework for making their cooperation even better. Moreover, he assessed bilateral relations between BiH and the Republic of Slovenia as good, stressing the mutual interest of both countries in continuing improvement of friendly relations and in further developing partnerships and cooperation.

The Speaker of the Slovenian Parliament, Janko Veber, stated that Slovenia, as a member of the European Union and NATO, bilaterally, and through EU institutions, expresses significant support to Bosnia and Herzegovina in its efforts to fulfil the requirements for EU integration. Slovenia strongly supports the further widening of the EU to include all the states of the Western Balkans, including BiH. In that sense, Slovenia expresses readiness to transfer to Bosnia and Herzegovina its experiences from its roadmap to the EU and NATO; on these premises, they agreed to further strengthen the overall bilateral relations between our two countries.

During the meeting, Speaker Bećirović gave the utmost attention to the matter of old foreign currency savings, emphasizing that this issue should be resolved through a bilateral agreement on legal and property relations. The basic approach of BiH is that paying out the old currency savings to the citizens of BiH should not be at all connected with the succession of ex-SFRY property, since this is an issue of private-contracting relations between banks and clients. Bećirović reminded that in November 2012 the European Court for Human Rights in Strasburg passed a verdict (the European Court for Human Rights Verdict on Ališić case and others) stating that the Republic of Slovenia is responsible for reimbursing old savings to clients of Ljubljanska Banka outside of Slovenia, and that the Republic of Serbia has the same responsibility towards bank clients outside of the Republic of Serbia. According to the words of Bećirović, this verdict opens possibilities to BiH citizens to finally receive their foreign currency savings from Slovenian and Serbian Banks in BiH, regardless of the fact that the Appeal of Slovenia on the first instance verdict of the European Court for Human Rights was accepted in Strasbourg; the final decision will be passed by a 17-member Court Council in Strasbourg. If the Court confirms the first instance verdict, it would become effective and Slovenia would have to enforce it. In that case the issue of old foreign currency savings in Ljubljanska banka, and its branches outside of Slovenia, would be resolved outside the Agreement on Succession States of the ex–SFRY states, Bećirović pointed out.

In terms of the economy, the Speaker Bećirović stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a high interest in decreasing its trade deficit, which damages BiH. What is encouraging, according to Bećirović, is that BiH exports to Slovenia have increased in the first six months of 2013 by 6,18% compared to the same period 2012. Among other points, Bećirović emphasized that the highest potential for investment in our country is in the fields of energy, road infrastructure, telecommunication, agriculture, metal industry and pharmaceuticals.

Apart from the conversation on old currency savings, the Speaker of the House of Representatives addressed the issue of signing the contract on dual citizenship, so that BiH citizens who live in Slovenia may keep their BiH citizenship. (end)