ZAGREB, October 9, 2018 – Bosnia and Herzegovina needs again our commitment to institution building and to the ensuring of equality of its three constituent people and its citizens due to that country’s internal complexities that have become more evident after yesterday’s general elections, Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said in Zagreb on Monday after her talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Croatia’s head of state, who welcomed Stoltenberg that has come for his first official visit to Croatia, said that NATO and Croatia were facing numerous challenges, including the developments in the southeast of Europe.
Underscoring that southeast Europe is of strategic importance for NATO and of vital existential importance for Croatia, Grabar-Kitarović said in her speech that Bosnia and Herzegovina again needs “our commitment to institution building and to ensuring the equality of its constituent peoples and citizens.”
Croatia’s approach is based on deep understanding of internal complexities of its neighbour Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have become more evident after yesterday’s elections in that country, the Croatian president said.
She underscores that the 1995 Dayton peace accords and the 1994 Washington agreement are incorporated into the foundations of the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and departures from those treaties have created a lack of balance between the three constituent peoples.
“I have been warning for years about a disparity between the election legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ruling made by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and decisions made by some international courts. Parties to the Framework Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, hammered out in Dayton, are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and being a co-signatory of the Dayton peace accords, we are also responsible for peace and stability of our neighbouring country. It is in our interest to see Bosnia resuming firmly on its journey of development, the president said.
Regardless of, unfortunately, euphoric and rather inappropriate statements we have heard from that neighbouring country upon the completion of the election, I firmly believe in good neighbourly relations, Grabar-Kitarović said adding that she would absolutely advocate the prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the survival and the exercise of rights of the Croats and the other peoples and citizens of that country.
Grabar-Kitarović said that she would also advocate Bosnia and Herzegovina Euro-Atlantic integration and its accession to the EU.
The Croatian president said that Zagreb strongly supported the invitation to Macedonia to open the process of accession to NATO.
Stoltenberg applauded Croatia’s support to Macedonia in that regard. He also praised Croatia’s efforts to increase budget allocation for defence. NATO remains committed to stability and safety and security in this region, he said adding that they count on Croatia and its constructive role.
