ASSESS JUSTIFICATION FOR CONTINUED FUNDING FOR THE SAVA COMMISSION

NOVI GRAD, SEPTEMBER 2 /SRNA/ - Mario Crnković, president of the Green Team Association from Novi Grad, believes it is justified to reconsider continued funding for the Sava Commission because of its refusal to get involved in resolving the issue concerning Trgovska Gora, where Croatia plans to store radioactive waste.

Crnković said that the Sava Commission is an international body established by Slovenia, Croatia, BiH and Serbia for the sustainable management of the Sava River Basin, and that it has the broadest scope of work among similar European organisations, including ecosystem protection and measures to address water pollution.

"That scope is apparently broad when it comes to organising conferences, printing brochures and spending taxpayers' money. When Croatia plans to store radioactive and other hazardous waste at Trgovska Gora, along the border with BiH and in the Sava River Basin, that mandate suddenly disappears," Crnković told SRNA.

Crnković said that the Green Team Association contacted the Commission in January 2025 and June this year, but received no response, adding that the Commission only replied to its third letter, dated July 31.

"The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers also sent a detailed and well-substantiated letter to the Sava Commission. In its response, the Commission said that it had considered the Trgovska Gora case at its 70th session in March 2026, but claimed that it had neither the mandate nor the mechanisms to make decisions on this matter. It then referred BiH to international conventions, particularly the Espoo Convention," Crnković said.

He said this was a clear case of shifting the argument, as the Sava Commission had not been asked to make a decision on the location of the storage or disposal facility, nor to lecture Croatia.

"No one asked the Commission to take BiH's side either. It is just expected to do its job. It could have brought together the relevant actors countless times, assessed cross-border risks, requested expert information and initiated a dialogue among the member countries. Instead, we received a response that essentially boils down to: we see the problem, but we are not interested," Crnković stressed.

He said that the framework agreement to which the Commission refers lists sustainable water management, as well as the prevention and limitation of hazards and adverse impacts, including the discharge of substances harmful to water, among its objectives.

Crnković asks what the Commission's "broadest scope of work" actually means in practice if radioactive and other hazardous waste near the Sava River Basin is not sufficient reason to at least initiate a serious discussion.

"Since 2015, taxpayers in BiH have allocated more than BAM two million to fund the Sava Commission. When it comes to sitting around conference tables, there seems to be little doubt about the mandate of this multimillion-mark commission. But when it comes to addressing the uncomfortable issue of the Trgovska Gora case, that is when the efforts to avoid the problem begin," Crnković said.

He believes that such an approach requires an urgent institutional response, and that the Expert Team, including legal experts, together with the Coordination Body, should use institutional channels to request that Trgovska Gora be put back on the Sava Commission's agenda and that the Commission clearly state what concrete steps it is prepared to take within the scope of its mandate.

"We have informed the relevant ministries of the response we received, and we have reason to expect responsible action on our part. If the refusal to get involved in the Trgovska Gora case continues, the issue of whether continued funding for the Sava Commission with taxpayers’ money in BiH is justified should also be raised," Crnković stressed.

Croatia plans to store radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, as well as existing institutional radioactive waste, at the Trgovska Gora site in the municipality of Dvor, right on the border with BiH.