ZAGREB, December 14, 2018 – Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that after his statements about Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), European Union member states’ leaders realised that there was a problem with the Bosnian election laws and that it should be resolved.
Plenković spoke about BiH and the issue of its election law at two European Council meetings, in October and a summit taking place yesterday and today. “There is now big understanding for this topic among my colleagues,” he told Croatian reporters covering his stay in Brussels, adding that “people understand there is a problem and that it should be resolved.”
Plenković said he would continue to insist on this matter, “in all of BiH’s best intentions.” “It’s very important that what we do, we do in a principled manner. It’s nothing personal against any party. We are trying to shed light on a topic which deserves it.”
A few days ago, former international community high representatives to BiH Carl Bildt, Paddy Ashdown and Christian Schwarz-Schilling sent a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and member states’ foreign ministers, accusing Croatia of meddling in BiH’s internal affairs and saying that Croatian officials contesting the election of Željko Komšić as the BiH Presidency’s Croat member is unacceptable.
Plenković said no one mentioned the letter at the European Council summit.
Commenting a debate in the Croatian parliament on a declaration on the status of Croats in BiH and BiH’s European journey, he said, “Let’s shed these unnecessary chains and prejudices that one country can’t discuss in its representative body the most important foreign policy topic.”
He said the government and parliament “have the right to articulate our political stance.” “What some actors think, including those in the ruling HDZ, is less important. It’s important to win the broadest consensus possible for a clear political declaration,” he said. The latest draft of the declaration contains a balanced and clear message and “I think a good stance has been reached,” he added.
Plenković said that in Dayton, US, where the peace agreement on BiH was concluded in 1995, the current political engineering was the farthest thing on anyone’s mind. “There was good will then to establish peace for coexistence, reconciliation, to move on, and not to have this situation in which one nation, Croats, feel cheated. It’s a question of principle… Pretending that nothing happened, sweeping this topic under the rug… that’s not normal. There’s no way it will happen. At one point we must say: People, wait. That’s not good.”
Plenković said he told his counterparts at the European Council summit that he was speaking as BiH’s biggest advocate, “that nobody pushed more for BiH’s progress towards the EU, and we will continue to do so.”
“We are signalling that we have a problem which can be solved quite simply, so that consensus can be reached on changing the election law,” he added.
More news about Croatia’s policies towards Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Politics section.
