ZAGREB, December 14, 2018 - The Croat member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency, Željko Komšić, said on Thursday that the Constitutional Court ruling in the Ljubić case was misinterpreted in debates on changing the country's election rules.

Speaking in an interview with public television BHT 1, Komšić said it was important to realise that the Constitutional Court cannot interpret clear provisions of the Constitution, but that in its judgment on Bozo Ljubić's appeal it only found that certain articles of election law clashed with the Constitution of the Federation, the country's Bosniak-Croat entity.

He was referring to a provision, repealed by the Constitutional Court, saying that in each canton at least one deputy from each constituent ethnic group is elected to the Federation's upper house of parliament.

Interpretations of the Constitutional Court ruling failed to notice that the Federation's Constitution dictates that deputies are delegated only if they have been directly elected to the cantonal assembly, and that's all what this ruling refers to, Komšić said.

Claims that it follows from the ruling that the constitutionality of ethnic groups is above all other principles, on which the Croat HDZ party insists, are wrong, as this principle is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, he added.

Željko Komšić resolutely denied that the ruling in the Ljubić case could be relevant to the method of electing presidency members, and hence it could not serve as the basis for negating the legitimacy of his election.

Asked how he would protect Croat national interests in the present circumstances when it was certain that he could not expect that Croat deputies in the Federation's upper house would cooperate with him, Komšić said he would react every time he estimated that these interests were jeopardised. "If I think that something is harmful to the Croat national interest, and the Croat caucus does not support it, then it is their problem to explain it," Komšić said.

He said he had no intention of wasting his energy on quarrels and would use his term in office to do good things in accordance with the law.

Speaking of the situation in the region and threats it was facing, Komšić said that three major projects of territorial expansion - Albanian, Serbian and Croatian - continued to be a threat.

"Sometimes they are weak, sometimes they are strong, but they are here and should not be ignored. These narratives are not over and they depend on who is in power, but this is a political and social process in the Balkans," Komšić concluded.

More news on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Diaspora section.

 ZAGREB, December 13, 2018 - Teams of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) are soon to arrive on the Croatia-Bosnia border because of the migrant pressure, European Commissioner Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis said on Thursday and added that the greatest responsibility for the situation on the border lies with Sarajevo and Zagreb.

Negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the deployment of FRONTEX teams have been completed and an agreement will be signed soon. That agreement will enable border police to manage the border between Bosnia and Croatia, however, the most important responsibility is in the hands of those two countries, Andriukaitis said during a debate on the status of migrants in Bosnia currently located near the border with the European Union.

Andriukaitis recalled that currently there are 5,139 migrants and asylum seekers being cared for in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Of that number, 3,126 are located in the canton in the northwest of the country near the border with Croatia and about 1,000 migrants have still not requested assistance, he said in a plenary session of the European Parliament during a debate on the issue, moved by Croatian MEP Ivan Jakovčić (IDS/ALDE).

According to Andriukaitis, since June this year, the European Union has provided Bosnia and Herzegovina with two million euro in humanitarian aid and 7.2 million euro through special measures and instruments for pre-accession support, and all the measures are being implemented with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UNHCR and UNICEF.

Over the past few weeks, 180 additional police officers have been deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina to improve security at the border, Andriukaitis added.

Relations between border police and migrants seem to be positive overall, as EU officials have reported, Andriukaitis said but recalled that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a transit country and the majority of migrants are attempting to cross the border every day.

He said that there was information that Croatian police were abusing migrants on the border with Bosnia, adding that the EC was actively monitoring developments and had informed Croatian authorities of those accusations.

He stressed that the agreement on readmission should be applied to migrants who illegally cross the EU border.

It should be applied without questioning the right to asylum and the obligations that arise from international law, particularly the principle of banning forced readmission, he added.

We all agree that the border between Bosnia and Croatia is the EU's external border and Croatia is responsible to manage that border, he said.

Measures on the EU's external border have to be proportional, they must fulfil fundamental human rights, Andriukaitis said, adding that he was convinced that Croatian authorities would take these accusations seriously and investigate them quickly and thoroughly.

In the ensuing debate, MEP Jakovčić said that he had proposed the debate because of the migrants' difficult situation but also because of the problems facing the local population. He added that the situation was chaotic because on the one hand Croatia was being called out because not everything was quite right with regard to the treatment of migrants while on the other hand, it was expected to protect the EU border.

He added that this was a huge challenge for the European Commission and thanked it for the help it had provided to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the way it was helping Croatia.

MEP Dubravka Šuica (HDZ/EPP) recalled that Croatia was preparing to enter the Schengen area and that Croatian police were doing their best to facilitate the country's entry to that area, and did their work in line with regulations.

She added that the latest data indicated that the number of migrants at the border was 57% higher than last year, with 6,415 more migrants, and warned of the problem of Bosnia and Herzegovina's relaxed visa regime with third countries. "Bosnia and Herzegovina's relaxing its visa regime with certain third countries, primarily Turkey, has led to an increase in the number of illegal entries from Bosnia," she said.

"In any case, it is a fact that work is being done to protect Bosnia and Herzegovina's border, and Albania's and Montenegro's, too, however, Croatia has more border police than all three countries together," she underlined and added that it was necessary to strengthen the asylum system in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkan countries.

MEP Tonino Picula, (SDP/S&D), recalled that Croatia has the longest EU land border and that it has not raised razor-wire fences like its neighbours. He underscored that the 6,500 migrants currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina were staying in improvised accommodation close to Croatia's border, which increases the chances of illegal crossing.

He too said that as a member of the Union, Croatia expected to join the Schengen Area as soon as possible and was aware that migration was a global challenge and had therefore supported the UN Global Compact.

More news on Croatia’s migrant policies can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 12, 2018 - At the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will once again address the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina after last October's general election and the status of Croats in Bosnia, a source from the European Council has said.

Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has asked that he be allowed to inform leaders of the latest situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the election, the source said.

Cyprian President Nicos Anastasiades has asked to speak about Serbia and Kosovo, the source added and explained that it is the duty of the president of the European Council to enable that when state leaders so request. The debate on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia will be held within the framework of foreign policy issues which is on the summit's agenda.

At the last EU summit on 18 October, Plenković informed his colleagues of the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that the majority Bosniak population once again outvoted the less numerous Croats in the election the Croat member in the country's three-man Presidency.

"I think that after my exposition, most colleagues only then realised the dimension of the problem. We have to understand that for someone who is a little further away from our region, that is hard to comprehend. The intervention was supported by Bulgaria's Premier Boyko Borisov, Hungary's Viktor Orban and, interestingly, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the EU High Representatives for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini also acknowledged our arguments," Plenković told reporters after the October summit.

EU state leaders will meet on Thursday and Friday in Brussels for a regular December summit.

In the meantime, Croatia Parliament has ended a debate on the Declaration on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić voiced hoped that it will be adopted with the broadest consensus possible, as did Božo Ljubić, chair of the parliamentary Committee on Croats outside Croatia, which proposed the Declaration.

I hope the amendments submitted will be constructive and that the Declaration can be adopted with the broadest consensus possible. It would be good if we showed the broadest unity possible on what we think about and want for the Croat people in BiH, the minister said.

This is an extremely important document whose value is reflected in a clear and unambiguous message of support to the Croat people in BiH as well as a message of friendship to BiH, she added. I hope the Declaration will be an expression of support from us all, independently of political or any other affiliation, said Pejčinović Burić.

Ljubić, of the ruling HDZ party, said the biggest benefit of today's debate was that the important topic of the Croat people in BiH was in the focus of Croatia's politics and public.

"We sent Croats in BiH the message that Croatia is there for them. We shed light on the importance of BiH and the decisions made there and those making them," he said, adding that BiH and Croatia had to rely on each other and that Croatia, even if there were no Croats in BiH, should deal with BiH. "Because the state is still unfinished, BiH remains a certain cause for concern, notably for its neighbours."

Ljubić agreed with the amendments submitted to the Declaration asking to value the role of the Croat Defence Council. He said that, with good will, the Croatian parliament could reach a solution that would facilitate a broad consensus on the Declaration. He called for doing that in good faith and constructively so that parliament could adopt the Declaration on Friday.

Arsen Bauk of the opposition Social Democrats said the Declaration's main messages should be respect for international agreements and the rule of law. We must not deviate from diplomatic practices and put emphasis on state bodies' obligations so as to improve the position of Croats in BiH and clearly condemn some occurrences, he added.

More news on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Diaspora section.

ZAGREB, December 12, 2018 - The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina believes that by implementing its law on the management of state assets, Croatia is breaching the Yugoslavia succession agreement, and it will take legal, political and diplomatic steps so that Bosnia and Herzegovina can protect its property in Croatia, according to a statement issued after the first meeting of the new Presidency comprising Milorad Dodik, Željko Komšić and Šefik Džaferović.

The statement delivered to Hina notes that the Presidency has tasked the foreign ministry to send a note to the UN secretary-general as the depositor of the Yugoslav Agreement on Succession Issues of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, informing him that Croatia is in breach of that agreement.

The head of Bosnia's negotiation team in the Permanent Joint Commission of Country Successors of the Former Yugoslavia was tasked to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Commission because of Croatia's breach.

The Presidency tasked the Council of Ministers to report on activities undertaken "in order to ensure the protection and restitution of property owned by physical and legal entities from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnia and Herzegovina's property located in the Republic of Croatia."

Bosnia's ombudsman was tasked to coordinate measures with entity privatisation agencies for the protection of Bosnia and Herzegovina's property in Croatia and to define a model to lodge an appeal with Croatia's Constitutional Court that would dispute the constitutionality of Croatia's law on the management of state assets and relevant regulations which prevent the real owners in Bosnia and Herzegovina from being registered as owners in the appropriate land titles register.

The chairman of the Presidency, Milorad Dodik, will send a letter to Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, demanding that the agreement on succession and its annexes be applied in accordance with international law as a legal act that has priority in relation to domestic regulations. As such, it is necessary for Bosnia and Herzegovina's property located in Croatia to be returned and for the actual owners to be registered in the land titles register, the statement said.

More news on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 11, 2018 - The Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, on Monday accused Croatia of undermining Bosnia and its sovereignty and underlined that good neighbourly relations that Croatia advocates can't be built like that.

"Good neighbourly relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina need to be based on mutual respect and trust after which all outstanding issues can be discussed. However, what Croatia has been doing to Bosnia and Herzegovina is not good. Such activity undermines mutual trust and deeply negates Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignty by negating its sovereign government elected at an election," Komšić said for the regional N1 television.

Komšić was responding to a statement by Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Saturday in which he critically reflected on Komšić's election as the Croat member to the presidency and noted that he would not give up on advocating the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"In terms of foreign policy, Croatia will not cease addressing this topic. As long as I am the head of government, we will not give up on that," Plenković said on Saturday, underlining that Croatia would not give up protecting the interests of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He dismissed claims by three former high representatives of the international community in Sarajevo, Paddy Ashdown, Christian Schwarz-Schilling and Carl Bildt, who accused Zagreb of meddling in Bosnia and Herzegovina's internal affairs.

"No one knows Bosnia and Herzegovina better than Croatia, and no one is a better friend and ally of Bosnia and Herzegovina than Croatia," Plenković said, recalling Croatia's concrete assistance to its neighbour regarding its application for European Union membership candidate status.

The election of Željko Komšić as the Croat representative in the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina complies with the letter of the country's constitution based on the Dayton peace accords but it is not in line with the spirit of that constitution, as Komšić was elected thanks to votes of non-Croat voters, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said in Brussels on Monday.

Lajcak, who in mid-2007 became the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, succeeding Christian Schwarz-Schilling, said in Brussels today that he believed that Komšić's election was not in accordance with the spirit of Bosnia's constitution stemming from the Dayton peace accords, although it was in line with the letter of the document.

He was elected thanks to ballots cast by non-Croat voters and as a result, the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not feel that they have their representative in the presidency, Lajcak said while answering questions from the press about the post-election situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina which held general elections on 7 October.

Asked to comment on a letter in which three former High Representatives -- Carl Bildt, Paddy Ashdown and Schwarz-Schilling -- accuse Croatia of interfering in Bosnia's internal affairs, Lajcak said that such an approach only made the current situation worse.

I think that politicising this issue is to the detriment of Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I think that we should work on making them feel equal in relation to others, feel that they have their political representation and do not have the problems that they now obviously have, said the Slovak minister, who was attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

More news about the status of Croats abroad can be found in our Diaspora section.

ZAGREB, December 10, 2018 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament is expected on Wednesday to discuss a draft declaration on the status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, among other things, calls for changes in Bosnian election system for the purpose of enabling Croats to enjoy the equal status with the other two constituent peoples in that country.

The draft declaration, which was endorsed by the parliamentary Committee for the Croats Abroad, reads that "for the successfully functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina at all levels, it is crucial that all its constituent peoples and citizens are equal and that they have full confidence and trust in their country's future."

This is the first point of the six-point document which the parliament has posted on its website. The 20-page document also warns about marginalisation of the Croats in that country,

In this context, it is underscored that for the third time, the Croat representative in the tripartite presidency has been elected thanks to the ballots cast by Bosniaks. The document warns that such a scenario is possible even if all the eligible Croat voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina cast their ballot for just one candidate, which does not mean that he or she will win the seat of the Croat representative in the presidency.

The Croatian foreign ministry has already warned that Željko Komšić sits on the presidency as the Croat representative, despite the fact that only 20% of the Croats who went to the polls cast their ballot for him, while his main contender, Dragan Čović, mustered the support of 80% of the Croat voters in Bosnia's October general election.

The draft declaration underscores several times that Croatia supports the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that Zagreb backs and assists Bosnia and Herzegovina's European Union membership bid, and the document calls for efforts to be taken to make "a consensual amending of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its election legislation so as to ensure the harmonisation of the relations between its three constituent peoples and equality of all its citizens."

The document calls for efforts that will provide for the simplification, transparency, manageability and cost-efficiency of the internal organisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Only the full implementation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina which defines it as a country with the three constituent peoples and citizens of Bosnia Herzegovina with full mechanisms for the protection of legitimate interests of the constituent peoples and the protection of collective and individual rights on the whole territory will enable the full equality of the constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina in line with the highest European standards, reads the draft document.

The Croatian parliament expects the unsolved cases of murders of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the killings of Croat returnees and Croat office-holders, to be solved and it insists on the prosecution of war crimes with the removal of any political connotations from those cases.

The parliament is going to ask the officials and representatives of Croatia, which is a signatory of the Washington and Dayton agreements, to use all available tools, in line with the Constitution and international agreements, in efforts to point out the cases of the violations of the said treaties and to expose all the negative consequences that have occurred in the meantime.

The draft document underlines that the process of diminishing the rights of the Croats as a constituent people started after 2000.

The document criticises the then High Representative of the international community to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch who "imposed amendments that have never been adopted by the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina." "Those amendments have produced long-term adverse consequences for the status of the Croats in the Federation and also adverse consequences for Bosnia and Herzegovina," reads the draft.

The chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Miro Kovač (HDZ), on Monday said that the Declaration on the Status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, set to be debated in parliament on Wednesday, wasn't meddling in that country's interior affairs and would not harm the relations between the two countries.

"The idea is for the declaration to give a strong, quality and rational message from the parliament to Croatian institutions and the international public about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and about relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. That isn't meddling in Bosnia and Herzegovina's interior affairs and it won't harm relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina," Kovač said, adding that the two countries have very developed relations.

"The declaration is an instrument that illustrates parliament's general attitude about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am convinced that the text will be a good one in the end and that it will incorporate the opinions of all parliamentary groups in the Croatian Parliament," Kovač said.

One of the ideas for the document is to send a strong message that Croatian institutions too are expected to promote the fulfilment of all obligations related to the implementation of Bosnia's constitution. "That means that the country has to function and that it has to guarantee the equality of all three constituent peoples and all citizens, including Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only with the equality of all three peoples is it possible for the country to function, be stable and to advance," Kovač said. If it is unstable, he added, Croatia too will be responsible as one of the signatories of the Dayton accords.

Asked whether the declaration will call for amendments to the country's constitution and legislation, Kovač said that Croatia is obliged to promote the fulfilment of the obligation of implementing the Constitution. “The way they will do that in Bosnia and Herzegovina is up to its parliament while Croatia is obliged to point out that it is absolutely unacceptable and impolite of Bosniaks to elect the Croat member of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said.

He is convinced that the declaration will find a good formula and that in the end the equality of all three peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be respected.

Commenting on the harsh criticism by former international high representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Croatia was interfering in Bosnia's interior affairs, Kovač said that "they have the right to their say like anyone else."

MP Vesna Pusić of the GLAS party on Monday commented that the declaration was unacceptable at several levels and thinks that Croatia should not interfere into the interior affairs of a neighbouring country.

Pusić believes that Croatia should restrain itself and that the declaration is "directly against Croatian interests in Europe and in the framework of the interest of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina." The former foreign minister believes that the declaration will harm Croatia's reputation in Europe, where it should be fighting for Bosnia and Herzegovina's European integration.

More news on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 9, 2018 - The Croatian Foreign and European Affairs' Ministry on Saturday dismissed the accusations which three former international High Representatives made against Zagreb claiming that it meddles with the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Swede Carl Bildt, Briton Paddy Ashdown and German Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who used to be the international community's High Representatives to Sarajevo, have recently sent a letter to the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in which they describe as impermissible the criticism which Croatia's officials made regarding the election of Željko Komšić to the tripartite Bosnian presidency.

Their letter was prompted by Croatia's diplomatic action in Zagreb points out that Komšić sits on the presidency as the Croat representative, despite the fact that only 20% of the Croats who went to the polls cast ballot for him, while his main contender, Dragan Čović, mustered the support of 80% of the Croat voters in Bosnia's 7 October general election.

Countering the former diplomats' accusations, the ministry responds that it is its duty to closely follow the developments in the neighbouring country.

The ministry underscored that contrary to the three former High Representatives, Croatia "is not interfering with the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina but fulfils its international obligations, while fully respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it constitutional and legal order."

"Unfortunately, the constituent peoples currently do not enjoy the same rights partly due to the decisions made by some of the High Representatives, and this gives rise to serious concerns and can also harm the functionality and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina," the Croatian ministry says.

The ministry underscores that the Croats don't have their legitimate representative to the three-member Presidency, referring to the fact that Komšić fills this position despite the fact that another Croat candidate won the support of 80% of the Croat voters.

The ministry notes that the second opportunity to test the rule of law would be during the establishment of the House of Peoples of the parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina having in mind the fact that Bosnia's Constitutional Court annulled some of the provisions of the election legislation that failed to provide for legitimate and proportional representation of the constituent peoples in that upper house of the Federation's legislature.

Ashdown, Bildt, and Schwarz-Schilling insist that neither the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the country's election law state that Presidency members have to be elected by "their" ethnic groups.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Zagreb on Saturday that Croatia would not give up protecting the interests of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He also recalled that being a signatory to the Dayton and Paris peace agreement, Croatia has a constitutional obligation to care for Croats, and is also supposed to articulate the interests and the stance that Croats, a constituent people, are also entitled to the de facto equality.

He warned that it was not good for Bosnia and Herzegovina's democratic development to circumvent the spirit and wording of the Dayton and Paris peace treaties.

Follow TCN for more news about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ZAGREB, December 8, 2018 - Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said on Friday he supported the position of three former international high representatives to Bosnia and Herzegovina who had accused Zagreb of meddling in Bosnia and Herzegovina's internal affairs and misinforming the Croatian and international public about the situation in that country. "I support the view which Messrs Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Carl Bildt and Paddy Ashdown presented" in a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, former president Mesić said in a statement.

The three former top international officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote that Croatia was interfering in Bosnia and Herzegovina's internal affairs and that its contesting the election of Željko Komšić as the Croat member of the country's tripartite presidency was unacceptable.

Mesić said he had received a copy of the letter and that the Croatian government "should take it very seriously."

"It is a fact that developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina are deliberately misrepresented to the Croatian and world public, that the laws of the neighbouring state are misinterpreted, and what worries me the most as the former president of Croatia, Croatia's care for the Croats who live in this neighbouring and friendly country is reduced to the interests of one party, namely the HDZ. That is unacceptable and harmful for the Croats who are a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Mesić said.

Mesić, who had served two terms as president of Croatia from 2000 to 2010, noted that Željko Komšić, a pro-Bosniak politician of Croatian origins, had been elected in accordance with the law that was in force when HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović had twice been elected the Croat member of the state presidency.

Mesić did not say that Croatian officials in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina were not contesting the legality, but the legitimacy of Komšić's election. Komšić was predominantly elected by Bosniaks, although he is supposed to represent the Croats on the presidency. Komšić has said that he represents citizens and not an ethnic group, and Croat-majority municipalities and cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina have declared him persona non grata.

Mesić said that the Croatian government was calling into question "the credibility of Croatia as a factor of stability in southeast Europe" and was "directly harming the perception of Croatia as a serious and reliable member of the European Union."

He concluded by saying that Croatia must "clearly and unequivocally" support Komšić as a presidency member and "stop all activities aimed at contesting the legitimacy of his election."

For more on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, click here.

ZAGREB, December 7, 2018 - Three former high representatives of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina have sent a letter to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, warning her that Croatia has been interfering in Bosnian internal affairs and stressing that attempts to contest the election of Željko Komšić as a member of the collective state presidency, which are also made by Croatian officials, are unacceptable.

The regional N1 network carried the letter signed by former High Representatives Carl Bildt, Paddy Ashdown and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, in which they remind Mogherini and EU foreign ministers that the ruling of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court, which serves as a basis to challenge Komšić's election – actually refers to the election of members of the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity and not to the election of state Presidency members.

The wrong interpretation of the Ljubić case is used as an argument against the legally elected Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić. Representatives of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Croatia, together with HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović, claim that Komšić's election is illegitimate and unconstitutional. However, neither the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the country's election law state that Presidency members have to be elected by "their" ethnic groups, the three former diplomats, who had the role of chief interpreters of the Dayton peace agreement, say in the letter.

They recall that Čović was elected to the Presidency twice in line with existing election rules.

It is of crucial importance that at its meeting in December the EU Foreign Affairs Council sends a clear message to political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as those outside the country that interfere in its internal affairs, reads the letter.

The former high representatives believe that the EU should send a clear message that any reform of the country's election system should make the country more functional and not generate new divisions along ethnic lines.

The second important message they underlined is that the establishment of the government is the main priority, that Bosnia and Herzegovina's borders are inviolable and that Croatia should not interfere in Bosnia and Herzegovina's internal affairs as well as that the European Commission should publish its opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina's candidate status application as soon as possible.

In a separate statement for N1, Schwarz-Schilling said that he, Bildt and Ashdown had decided to send the letter in order to "stop Croatia's diplomatic offensive" and accused Croatian officials of lying when describing the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They are mixing the election law and the issue of election of Presidency members, and that is a huge lie used for propaganda against Komšić, Schwarz-Schilling said, adding that the letter was prompted by the fact that no one was clarifying that issue in public.

For more on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, click here.

ZAGREB, November 22, 2018 - Former Croatian president Ivo Josipović was presented in Sarajevo on Wednesday with the Isa-Beg Ishakovic Award, which is given to foreign statesmen for promoting peace, understanding and tolerance.

Josipović is the second Croatian recipient of this award. The first was incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. Among the other recipients are Slovenian President Borut Pahor, former Austrian president Heinz Fischer, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The award, named after the 15th century Ottoman governor of Bosnia who is considered the founder of Sarajevo as an urban centre, was established in 2002 by the Klepsidra foundation, which promotes Bosnia and Herzegovina's multicultural and multiethnic heritage.

At a ceremony attended, among others, by Bosnian Presidency member Šefik Džaferović and the international community's High Representative Valentin Inzko, the president of the jury said Josipović had not only encouraged dialogue and carefully built Croatian-Bosnian relations but made them mutually beneficial.

Josipović said he saw the award "as a recognition of the way in which I built the relations between our states and peoples." He added that as president he had tried to set a new course of Croatia's foreign policy despite those who did not know how to or want to build peace.

Josipović was the president of Croatia from 2010 to 2015.

For more on former president Josipović, click here.