Phantom non-paper should have discredited Croatia's affirmative non-paper

Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Monday he knew nothing about a phantom non-paper advocating a division of Bosnia and Herzegovina along ethnic lines, adding that this might have appeared in the public sphere to discredit the affirmative non-paper presented by Croatia.

"I heard and read about it (...) but have never seen such a non-paper. It was probably launched to discredit our affirmative non-paper," he told the press in Brussels after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, which included a strategic debate on the Western Balkans.

A so-called non-paper attributed to Slovenia appeared in public a few weeks ago but neither its existence nor authorship have been confirmed by anyone. It proposes dividing BiH along ethnic lines.

Prior to its appearance, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on 22 March, Grlić Radman presented a Croatian non-paper which was supported by Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus.

That non-paper says that BiH must remain in the centre of the EU's attention, that its EU membership is both a priority and an aspiration and that membership requires a comprehensive transformation of all society.

The minister said today's debate on the Western Balkans lasted two hours, that he was glad it was held, that there would be no written conclusions as the debate would continue, and that the Croatian non-paper was well-received.

"This is a process, the debate will continue and we left the conclusions for later."

He said many ministers reiterated during the debate that the borders in the Western Balkans would not be changed and that something like that was unacceptable.

Text: Hina

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