ZAGREB, February 2, 2018 – The Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Dragan Čović, who is the most prominent Croat politician in Bosnia and Herzegovina, met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Friday, bringing his attention to the importance of amending electoral legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure legitimate representation of its constituent nations in government bodies.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Čović said that Juncker was well acquainted with the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that he informed him in detail of electoral reform which should ensure that general elections due in October are legitimate and that its results can be implemented.
Čović’s HDZ party and other Croat parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina insist that the existing electoral legislation be changed to prevent the more numerous Bosniaks from choosing representatives of the Croats in the upper house of parliament and the country’s collective presidency. None of the Bosniak parties supports such changes.
“Regardless of tactics and strategies used by some political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the election law will need to be changed as required by the Constitutional Court, otherwise we will not be able to implement election results. We are facing huge responsibility. It is true that our positions are different, but we did not propose amendments to the election law for no reason nearly a year ago. We realised that the Democratic Action Party (SDA), as the key Bosniak party, was avoiding change so that a more numerous nation could continue electing representatives for another nation,” Čović said.
Čović compared the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the former Yugoslavia where “the most numerous nation did not understand the problems of the other nations.” “I think something similar can happen in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that’s why we have to find the right balance between individual and collective,” he added.
Next week, the European Commission will unveil the EU enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans, and Juncker will visit the region later this month. He is due in Sarajevo on February 28.
Čović said he expected some progress on electoral reform would be made by then.
A European Commission spokesman said that Juncker and Čović also discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU membership application. Juncker said that the credible enlargement perspective requires persistent efforts and reforms because progress on the European path is measured on merit, and this also requires a solution to the election law, the spokesman said.
