Plenkovic: Croatia supports Bosnia's European journey

Croatia supports reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would guarantee local Croats' equality with the other two constituent peoples, Bosniaks and Serbs. and that would accelerate the country's integration into the European Union, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday in Neum, where he was attending a conference on constitutional reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We have no hidden intentions. We just want the Croat people to be equal and for Bosnia and Herzegovina to become a member of the European Union as quickly as possible. That would stabilise the country and prevent new crises," Plenkovic said in his keynote speech.

The two-day international conference, "A European Constitution for Bosnia and Herzegovina," is aimed at helping to find a path for the transformation of the country whose constitution is just one of the annexes of the Dayton peace accords and to motivate the adoption of a European constitution, the Zagreb and Mostar universities said.

The conference was organised by the two universities under the auspices of the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Plenkovic underlined that Zagreb supports constitutional changes that will guarantee the equal status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the adoption of European standards as noted in the Copenhagen criteria for membership in the European Union.

"Our policy is based on the fundamental principle of the equality of the constituent peoples, which has to stay as the basis of Bosnia's constitutional structure. We, as a guarantor and a signatory of the Dayton and Paris accords, will advocate and reiterate these theses," Plenkovic said.

He said that last year the Croatian parliament adopted the Declaration on the Status of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina which, according to him, is balanced and, most importantly, supports Bosnia's European journey and indicates how to "advance the status of the least numerous constituent people."

According to Plenkovic, that declaration is not targeted against Bosnia and Herzegovina but is rather in the interest of it and all three constituent peoples. He said, however, that the last elections in Bosnia jeopardised those relations because Croats felt that they were not equal. He was hinting at the election of Zeljko Komsic as the Croat member of the country's Presidency predominantly with Bosniak votes.

Plenkovic added that during its chairmanship of the European Union next year, Croatia would work intensively on the integration of Southeast European countries into the EU, which currently is not in focus because of Brexit and the migrant crisis.

He underscored that the incumbent government in Croatia was opposed to proposals to raise barriers to stop the Western Balkans migrant route that passes through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has the "greatest crisis potential and that is why Croatia, which is closer to the Schengen Area each day, is strengthening its capacities and police capabilities...I would not like a barbed wire fence here in Neum," he said.

The president of the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Covic, underscored that Croats in that country were the front runners of Euro-Atlantic integration and that they insist on amendments to the constitution and the election law that will guarantee the equality of this people.

Text: Hina

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