Opening EU entry talks with Bosnia is Croatia's important foreign policy achievement

The European Commission's decision to recommend opening accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of Croatia's most important foreign policy achievements in this government's term, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said while commenting on the statement by EC President Ursula von der Leyen, who will recommend that the Council open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"For us, in foreign policy terms and in terms of our strategic national interests, the decision that will be taken next week to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of Croatia's most important foreign policy achievements in this term," Plenković said.

This decision is important for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina

He said that this decision "is important for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for all three of its constituent peoples, in particular for the Croats who have always been staunch advocates of Bosnia and Herzegovina's European path."

"Since 2016, Croatia has helped Bosnia and Herzegovina more than anyone else to submit a membership application. A year and a half ago it helped Bosnia and Herzegovina more than anyone else to get candidate status and implement the necessary reforms in the last three months," the PM said.

"We travelled to Sarajevo and said: Now is the time. This message was heard by our partners and institutions and they took the steps that have made this recommendation possible," he added, referring to his visit to the Bosnian capital in late January together with von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Enlargement would be one of the topics discussed in the years ahead

Plenković said that he had been in close contact with the EC president over this matter in the last three weeks.

"We have been working all these days to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina takes the necessary steps so that the Commission could say clearly that enough criteria have been fulfilled to open negotiations," he said.

Plenković said that EU enlargement was a matter of the Union's "absorption capacity", adding that enlargement would be one of the topics discussed in the years ahead, notably Ukraine's membership.

Text: Hina

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