ZAGREB, November 19, 2018 – Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić informed her colleagues at a meeting in Brussels on Monday of Croatia’s concern about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and their legitimate representation at all government levels. At Croatia’s request, the foreign ministers of European Union member states discussed the situation in BiH after the October 7 general elections. “The conclusion is that everyone agrees that BiH’s European journey is very important. More and more member states understand Croatia’s concern about the status of Bosnian Croats, one of the three constituent peoples. We expect further discussion in the near future,” Pejčinović Burić said, adding that conclusions in writing would be adopted at one of the next Foreign Affairs Council meetings.
In the past few weeks, Croatia has embarked on a diplomatic campaign to point out that Željko Komšić was elected as the Croat member of the BiH Presidency with Bosniak votes, contrary to the spirit of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, and that the last elections were held without agreeing on the model of electing deputies to the parliaments’ upper houses after the Constitutional Court ruled that part of the election law is unconstitutional.
“We expressed our concern that attempts are being made to resolve everything at once. The situation is complex and we pushed for doing it in stages, first to apply the Constitutional Court ruling, and second to embark on amending the election law in line with the Constitutional Court ruling. Then, after the situation stabilises politically and when parliaments and governments are formed at all levels, one can work on what is certainly most important, reforms on the European Union journey,” said Pejčinović Burić.
The BiH Constitutional Court struck election law provisions concerning the Federation entity parliament’s House of Peoples, upholding the objection by Božo Ljubić, former chair of the BiH Parliament’s House of Representatives and now a member of the Croatian parliament, who claimed the principle of proportionality in the election of deputies from different cantons was breached.
Pejčinović Burić said some EU member states were pushing for resolving all the issues in BiH at the same time through reforms required for EU membership, while others, including Croatia, were for a gradual approach.
She said Croatia was for honouring the BiH constitution, which mentions three constituent peoples – Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. “The constitution can’t be brought into question. One can only ask when and how to change BiH’s structure in the future.”
Asked to comment on the lack of understanding in the EU of the concept of constituent peoples, she said constitutionality in BiH “isn’t just a legacy of Dayton, having existed through many documents much earlier.”
“A long time has passed since the Dayton agreement and the constitution which is part of it. Naturally, after 20 years, Europe is going in a different direction… towards a civic principle. That’s part of the problem where states have different positions,” she said.
She explained the question was whether to look at BiH through the constitution and the provisions brought by the Dayton agreement, which envisage the constitutionality of the peoples and the representation of all citizens, or to opt for the path defined by the EU’s acquis, that states should have a modern organisation on the one man, one vote model.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini told reporters after the meeting the Foreign Affairs Council would discuss BiH in December again.
The ministers sent BiH three main messages – to form government as soon as possible, to focus 100% on the reform agenda which BiH citizens, notably the young, expect and which is tied to the country’s European prospect. It is also necessary to focus on reforming the election law and on the concern stemming from it, she said.
All ministers are agreed that we must work very intensively with all political leaders in BiH, she added.
For more on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, click here.
