"Contrary to claims about the international incident which the Chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency claims to have happened during the opening of the Slano-Ravno road, the Croatian Sabor's Public Relations Office stresses that there was no incident," the statement read.
In an interview with the Bosnian edition of Vecernji List daily, Jovic said that he would inform Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and Sabor Speaker Vladimir Seks of an international incident caused on Saturday by Sabor Deputy Speaker Luka Bebic, who Jovic said had excluded him from the official protocol of a ceremony marking the opening of a road linking the municipalities of Slano in Croatia and Ravno in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"Ravno Municipality's Protocol Office and the organising committee for construction works were in charge of the protocol, and Sabor Deputy Speaker Luka Bebic could not have influenced it, which is what the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina is claiming. According to a statement by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Jovic attended the event in his capacity as a party official and not a state official, while the opening ceremony was organised on the parliamentary level," the Sabor said in the statement.
"According to the official protocol, the road was opened by representatives of the Parliaments of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sabor Deputy Speaker Luka Bebic and the Deputy Speaker of the Bosnian Parliament's House of Representatives, Martin Raguz. We consider all other interpretations tendentious politicising having nothing to do with the actual event," the statement read.
In the interview with Vecernji List, Jovic said that although the joint protocol envisaged that he and Bebic open the road together, he was not allowed to address participants in the ceremony or cut the ribbon. Jovic believes that Bebic and part of the sympathisers of the HDZ BiH supported by Sanader are responsible for the incident.