Neum corridor

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Location of the Neum Corridor

The Neum Corridor or Neum Corridor is a 5 km wide strip of territory at its narrowest point, which belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina and divides the Croatian national territory on the mainland ( Dubrovnik-Neretva County ) into two parts. From 2022 the two Croatian parts of the country are to be connected by the Pelješac Bridge . The coast of the corridor on the Adriatic Sea with the port of Neum is the only direct access to the Mediterranean for Bosnia and Herzegovina .

origin

In the late Middle Ages, the area around Neum was a bone of contention between the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Ragusa . With the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699, the strip of land became part of the Ottoman Empire , among other things because the Republic of Ragusa wanted to prevent Venice from being further strengthened in the region and for this purpose gave the Ottomans a strip of land in the northwest of the Ragusian dominion as a buffer to Venetian Dalmatia . This gave the Ottomans access to the Adriatic Sea for the first time. The strip of land subsequently became part of Herzegovina . In the same way, a strip of land further south near Sutorina , now in Montenegro , became part of the Ottoman Empire.

Situation for Croatia

Problem

Overview map of the Neum Corridor

Due to the location of the Neum Corridor, the problem arises for Croatia that inner-Croatian road traffic on the D8 ( Jadranska Magistrala ) between Ploče and Dubrovnik has to cross Bosnian-Herzegovinian territory. For the planned Autocesta A1 along the coast to Dubrovnik, both the problem of border controls and the exact route arise.

The situation was drastically exacerbated by Croatia's accession to the European Union on July 1, 2013. The border to the Neum Corridor became the EU's external border , at which appropriate personal and customs controls have to be carried out. This made transit traffic through the Neum Corridor much more complicated. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that EU citizens can pass through the corridor with photo ID and duty-free personal items. Citizens of third countries, on the other hand, have to submit to a border control, and the corridor cannot be crossed with a single entry visa. All car owners must have car insurance valid for Bosnia .

The planned accession of Croatia to the Schengen Agreement would exacerbate this situation even further.

Pelješac Bridge as a solution

To solve this problem, Croatia began construction of the Pelješac Bridge on October 24, 2007 , which would enable a connection to the Pelješac peninsula of the same name , bypassing the Neum Corridor. However, for financial reasons, construction was stopped in 2010. On May 17, 2012, the contracts for the construction of the bridge were canceled by the Croatian state and the project has been put on hold for the time being. In the meantime, a transit highway without border controls and entry to Bosnia-Herzegovina has been considered as an alternative.

After a new tender for the project, the Croatian Transport Minister Oleg Butković declared in April 2017 that the contract would be awarded in the summer, the construction work would continue in the autumn and could be completed in 2022. The cost of the bridge is estimated at around 266 million euros (1.75 billion kuna). It is expected that 85% of the costs will be borne by the European Union . Should the EU refuse to finance the project, Croatia would, according to the Ministry of Transport, raise the necessary funds from its own resources.

Bosnia-Herzegovina already approved the construction project in January 2017. Although the bridge is supposed to cross Croatian waters, Bosnia-Herzegovina had concerns about the dimensions of the structure. A bridge that was too small could have impaired the only Bosnian-Herzegovinian sea access in the port of Neum .

Situation for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Even if the Neum corridor has a direct connection to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian motherland and is not an exclave , the location also has disadvantages for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main road M17.3 is the only road connection to the rest of the country. This narrow and poorly developed road leads on a winding route over the mountains to the M6 to Stolac . Due to the poor road connection, traffic to and from Neum is mainly handled via Croatia.

See also

Web links

Commons : Neum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pelješac Bridge to Be Constructed Within 3.5 Years . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  2. ^ Franz Petter: Dalmatia represented in its various relationships. Justus Perthes, Gotha 1857. Vol. 2, p. 170.
  3. ^ Paul Bradbury: How to Get from Dubrovnik to Split: The 2015 Guide, January 17, 2014 at croatia-split.com - accessed June 3, 2015
  4. ↑ Gov't terminates contract on construction of Peljesac bridge. On: daily.tportal.hr, May 17, 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / daily.tportal.hr  
  5. ↑ Thomas Fuster: Croatia-Bosnia: The gap on the Adriatic coast . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . September 29, 2012, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on May 8, 2017]).
  6. ^ Pelješac Bridge to Be Constructed Within 3.5 Years . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  7. ^ Eight Finalists Selected for Construction of Pelješac Bridge . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  8. ↑ Independent Quality Review Supports EU Financing for Pelješac Bridge . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  9. ^ Pelješac Bridge to Be Constructed Within 3.5 Years . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  10. ↑ Bosnia and Herzegovina to Approve Construction of Peljesac Bridge . ( total-croatia-news.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).

Coordinates: 42 ° 56 '  N , 17 ° 40'  E