ZAGREB, December 19, 2018 – The Bosnian Presidency decided on Tuesday to recall the country’s diplomatic representatives in 21 countries, including Renata Paskalj, the Ambassador to Croatia, as well as in the UN, the Council of Europe, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The recalled ambassadors were appointed over the past four years by the Presidency’s former Croat and Serb members, Dragan Čović and Mladen Ivanić respectively.
Before being appointed Bosnian ambassador to Croatia, Paskalj was Čović’s chief of staff and had no diplomatic experience.
The Presidency’s chairman and Serb member, Milorad Dodik, had announced the replacement of all Serb diplomats, saying they had not consulted enough with the Bosnian Serb entity authorities.
The Presidency’s Croat member, Željko Komšić, had announced he would examine the work of the Croat diplomats appointed by Čović and decide who would be replaced.
Only the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is authorised to appoint ambassadors and consuls general. The unwritten rule is that its Croat, Serb and Bosniak members decide on the appointment of diplomats from their own peoples.
The Bosnian Croat HDZ BiH party said Komšić’s decision to replace all Croat ambassadors was political revanchism and the continuation of his attempt to disempower Bosnian Croats. The party considers Komšić’s election as the Croat member of the state Presidency “unlawful and illegitimate.”
More news on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Politics section.
