ZAGREB, December 10, 2018 (Hina) – The Croatian parliament is expected on Wednesday to discuss a draft declaration on the status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, among other things, calls for changes in Bosnian election system for the purpose of enabling Croats to enjoy the equal status with the other two constituent peoples in that country.
The draft declaration, which was endorsed by the parliamentary Committee for the Croats Abroad, reads that “for the successfully functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina at all levels, it is crucial that all its constituent peoples and citizens are equal and that they have full confidence and trust in their country’s future.”
This is the first point of the six-point document which the parliament has posted on its website. The 20-page document also warns about marginalisation of the Croats in that country,
In this context, it is underscored that for the third time, the Croat representative in the tripartite presidency has been elected thanks to the ballots cast by Bosniaks. The document warns that such a scenario is possible even if all the eligible Croat voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina cast their ballot for just one candidate, which does not mean that he or she will win the seat of the Croat representative in the presidency.
The Croatian foreign ministry has already warned that Željko Komšić sits on the presidency as the Croat representative, despite the fact that only 20% of the Croats who went to the polls cast their ballot for him, while his main contender, Dragan Čović, mustered the support of 80% of the Croat voters in Bosnia’s October general election.
The draft declaration underscores several times that Croatia supports the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that Zagreb backs and assists Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European Union membership bid, and the document calls for efforts to be taken to make “a consensual amending of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its election legislation so as to ensure the harmonisation of the relations between its three constituent peoples and equality of all its citizens.”
The document calls for efforts that will provide for the simplification, transparency, manageability and cost-efficiency of the internal organisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Only the full implementation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina which defines it as a country with the three constituent peoples and citizens of Bosnia Herzegovina with full mechanisms for the protection of legitimate interests of the constituent peoples and the protection of collective and individual rights on the whole territory will enable the full equality of the constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina in line with the highest European standards, reads the draft document.
The Croatian parliament expects the unsolved cases of murders of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the killings of Croat returnees and Croat office-holders, to be solved and it insists on the prosecution of war crimes with the removal of any political connotations from those cases.
The parliament is going to ask the officials and representatives of Croatia, which is a signatory of the Washington and Dayton agreements, to use all available tools, in line with the Constitution and international agreements, in efforts to point out the cases of the violations of the said treaties and to expose all the negative consequences that have occurred in the meantime.
The draft document underlines that the process of diminishing the rights of the Croats as a constituent people started after 2000.
The document criticises the then High Representative of the international community to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch who “imposed amendments that have never been adopted by the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” “Those amendments have produced long-term adverse consequences for the status of the Croats in the Federation and also adverse consequences for Bosnia and Herzegovina,” reads the draft.
The chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Miro Kovač (HDZ), on Monday said that the Declaration on the Status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, set to be debated in parliament on Wednesday, wasn’t meddling in that country’s interior affairs and would not harm the relations between the two countries.
“The idea is for the declaration to give a strong, quality and rational message from the parliament to Croatian institutions and the international public about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and about relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. That isn’t meddling in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s interior affairs and it won’t harm relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Kovač said, adding that the two countries have very developed relations.
“The declaration is an instrument that illustrates parliament’s general attitude about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am convinced that the text will be a good one in the end and that it will incorporate the opinions of all parliamentary groups in the Croatian Parliament,” Kovač said.
One of the ideas for the document is to send a strong message that Croatian institutions too are expected to promote the fulfilment of all obligations related to the implementation of Bosnia’s constitution. “That means that the country has to function and that it has to guarantee the equality of all three constituent peoples and all citizens, including Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only with the equality of all three peoples is it possible for the country to function, be stable and to advance,” Kovač said. If it is unstable, he added, Croatia too will be responsible as one of the signatories of the Dayton accords.
Asked whether the declaration will call for amendments to the country’s constitution and legislation, Kovač said that Croatia is obliged to promote the fulfilment of the obligation of implementing the Constitution. “The way they will do that in Bosnia and Herzegovina is up to its parliament while Croatia is obliged to point out that it is absolutely unacceptable and impolite of Bosniaks to elect the Croat member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.
He is convinced that the declaration will find a good formula and that in the end the equality of all three peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be respected.
Commenting on the harsh criticism by former international high representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Croatia was interfering in Bosnia’s interior affairs, Kovač said that “they have the right to their say like anyone else.”
MP Vesna Pusić of the GLAS party on Monday commented that the declaration was unacceptable at several levels and thinks that Croatia should not interfere into the interior affairs of a neighbouring country.
Pusić believes that Croatia should restrain itself and that the declaration is “directly against Croatian interests in Europe and in the framework of the interest of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” The former foreign minister believes that the declaration will harm Croatia’s reputation in Europe, where it should be fighting for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European integration.
More news on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Politics section.
