ZAGREB, October 26, 2018 – Croatia’s European parliamentarians wanted to additionally raise awareness about the status of Bosnian Croats with their letter to the presidents of the European Parliament, Council and Commission about the need for legitimate representation of Croats in all institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and particularly in its presidency, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday, adding that he wasn’t planning to meet with the presidency’s newly-elected Croat member, Željko Komšić, just yet.
“I think that the message by eleven of my colleagues is entirely compatible with what I said in the European Council. This letter should additionally sensitise the leaders of European institutions about the need for legitimate representation in all institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in particular in its presidency because the meaning of the Dayton or Paris peace accords is not to undermine its fundamental essence, its fundamental provisions of the equality of the constituent peoples,” Plenković told the press.
Yesterday Croatia’s MEPs sent a letter to EU officials expressing deep concern with the fact that the Croat member to the presidency, Željko Komšić, was elected by Bosniak voters while the majority of Croats voted for another candidate, Dragan Čović.
Asked whether he would meet with Komšić soon, the prime minister said that he hadn’t planned to. “He is a member of the presidency and his main counterpart is the President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. We haven’t planned anything of that nature yet,” Plenković said.
Asked about the recent incidents with migrants at the Maljevac border crossing, Plenković said that Interior Minister Davor Božinović was in daily contact with the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos and that the commission was monitoring everything that is being done to prevent illegal migration.
The Maljevac – Velika Kladuša crossing between Bosnia and Croatia is still closed for the third day in a row, the Interior Ministry reported earlier on Friday. About 200 migrants are situated on the Bosnian side of the border and are being monitored by Bosnian border police who are tasked to prevent the migrants from illegally crossing the border.
