ZAGREB, December 9, 2018 – The Croatian Foreign and European Affairs’ Ministry on Saturday dismissed the accusations which three former international High Representatives made against Zagreb claiming that it meddles with the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Swede Carl Bildt, Briton Paddy Ashdown and German Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who used to be the international community’s High Representatives to Sarajevo, have recently sent a letter to the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in which they describe as impermissible the criticism which Croatia’s officials made regarding the election of Željko Komšić to the tripartite Bosnian presidency.
Their letter was prompted by Croatia’s diplomatic action in Zagreb points out that Komšić sits on the presidency as the Croat representative, despite the fact that only 20% of the Croats who went to the polls cast ballot for him, while his main contender, Dragan Čović, mustered the support of 80% of the Croat voters in Bosnia’s 7 October general election.
Countering the former diplomats’ accusations, the ministry responds that it is its duty to closely follow the developments in the neighbouring country.
The ministry underscored that contrary to the three former High Representatives, Croatia “is not interfering with the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina but fulfils its international obligations, while fully respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it constitutional and legal order.”
“Unfortunately, the constituent peoples currently do not enjoy the same rights partly due to the decisions made by some of the High Representatives, and this gives rise to serious concerns and can also harm the functionality and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Croatian ministry says.
The ministry underscores that the Croats don’t have their legitimate representative to the three-member Presidency, referring to the fact that Komšić fills this position despite the fact that another Croat candidate won the support of 80% of the Croat voters.
The ministry notes that the second opportunity to test the rule of law would be during the establishment of the House of Peoples of the parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina having in mind the fact that Bosnia’s Constitutional Court annulled some of the provisions of the election legislation that failed to provide for legitimate and proportional representation of the constituent peoples in that upper house of the Federation’s legislature.
Ashdown, Bildt, and Schwarz-Schilling insist that neither the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the country’s election law state that Presidency members have to be elected by “their” ethnic groups.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Zagreb on Saturday that Croatia would not give up protecting the interests of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He also recalled that being a signatory to the Dayton and Paris peace agreement, Croatia has a constitutional obligation to care for Croats, and is also supposed to articulate the interests and the stance that Croats, a constituent people, are also entitled to the de facto equality.
He warned that it was not good for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democratic development to circumvent the spirit and wording of the Dayton and Paris peace treaties.
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