ZAGREB, March 5, 2018 - Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said in Mostar on Monday, after talks with the Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Presidency and leader of Bosnian Croats, Dragan Čović, that the key to the survival of Bosnian Croats lay in amendments to the election legislation and the possibility to elect their own representatives to BiH state bodies.
"I believe that legitimate representation of the Croat people at this moment is critical for the survival of Croats in BiH. A possibility for Croats to elect their own representatives lies in the BiH Constitution, in the roots of the Dayton Accords," Pejčinović Burić said, underscoring that this meant that the will of the electorate must be respected. "If a Croat member of the presidency is being elected, then he should be elected by Croats," the minister said.
She recalled that a similar message had recently been delivered by EU senior officials -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. "During a ceremony at which BiH submitted its answers to the EU questionnaire, top officials from Brussels reiterated that the first major task before BiH institutions was to amend the election legislation so that Croat representatives could be legitimately elected at the elections, scheduled for the end of this year," the Croatian foreign minister said.
Pejčinović Burić also met with Mostar University rector Zoran Tomić and Croatian National Theatre director Ivan Vukoja. She visited the University Clinical Hospital in Mostar and held talks with hospital chief-of-staff Anto Kvesić.
Later on Monday, Pejčinović Burić is scheduled to visit the Franciscan Monastery in Mostar and hold talks with BiH Deputy Foreign Minister Josip Brkić.
