PM: Croatia advocates Bosnia's EU journey and equality of Croats

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Monday said in Mostar that Croatia strongly advocated stepping up Bosnia and Herzegovina's European journey and the equality of Croats in that country and confirmed that the main topic at an informal meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic would be European integration.

"We expect that talks today and tomorrow in Mostar will concentrate on Bosnia and Herzegovina's European journey. That is something Croatia intensively advocates and that is a topic I regularly initiate in the European Council with EU colleagues and heads of states and government as do members of my cabinet with their contracts, and our MEPs in the European Parliament. We wish to help on that journey and accelerate it," Plenkovic told reporters after meeting the Croat member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Dragan Covic.

He added that the EU has to be more strongly present in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that Croatia is a "country that values Bosnia and Herzegovina as a friend and ally."

"We want to accelerate that pathway. That is why we are helping all efforts that relate to answering the questionnaire and, I believe, getting the candidate status and opening negotiations in the future," Plenkovic said.

He added that authorities in Zagreb are especially interested in the equality of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"From the aspect of Croats, we want to take account of the equality and constituency of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to see that they can exercise their rights," he said. 

He added that he would meet informally with Serbia's Prime Minister and other counterparts who came to Bosnia and Herzegovina from neighbouring countries. We will discuss bilateral cooperation and regional stability and the European journey. I think that will be useful in light of the elections held in Serbia, he said.

Covic underscored that the Economic Fair Mostar was an opportunity for grave political issues to be replaced with economic topics.

Text: Hina

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