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 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 21, 2018 - Croatia is the biggest advocate of the inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European integration processes and insists on real equality in that country and on enabling the local Croats, the least numerous people, to exercise their rights, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday after Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency was inaugurated in Sarajevo earlier in the day. He further commented on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The new presidency includes Šefik Džaferović as the Bosniak and Milorad Dodik as the Serb member and Željko Komšić who sits on the presidency as the Croat representative and whose election provoked anger among most Croats who hold that Komšić won the seat due to the ballots of Bosniak and non-Croat voters in the country's Federation entity.

"Croatia's position is absolutely firm and clear both before the 7 October elections and in all these years and after the elections," Prime Minister Plenković said in Senj on Tuesday evening when asked by the press if there were some changes in Croatia's stance to its neighbouring country after on Monday Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić informed her colleagues in the European Union in Brussels of Zagreb's concern about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). At Croatia's request, the EU foreign ministers discussed the latest developments in BiH. The Croatian minister said in Brussels that: "More and more member states understand Croatia's concern about the status of Croats, one of the three constituent peoples. We expect further discussion in the near future."

Croatia has embarked on a diplomatic campaign to point out that Komšić was elected as the Croat member of the Presidency with Bosniak votes, contrary to the spirit of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, and that the latest elections were held without agreeing on the model of electing deputies to the parliaments' upper houses after the Constitutional Court ruled that part of the election law is unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, Plenković said that it was essential to avoid scenarios in which the larger constituent people in the Bosnian Federation, and those are Bosniaks, actually elected representatives of the other constituent people. "Croatia's position is clear and Croatia will raise this issue unless it is solved," Plenković said adding that earlier in the day he had had extensive talks with Pejčinović-Burić on this matter.

Plenković said that the insistence on the real equality of all the three constituent peoples "is in the interest of the good functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina". "Bosnia and Herzegovina has no better advocate, ally and friend than Croatia," Plenković said underlining that Croatia advocated Bosnia and Herzegovina's integration in European processes.

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

ZAGREB, November 19, 2018 - Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić informed her colleagues at a meeting in Brussels on Monday of Croatia's concern about the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and their legitimate representation at all government levels. At Croatia's request, the foreign ministers of European Union member states discussed the situation in BiH after the October 7 general elections. "The conclusion is that everyone agrees that BiH's European journey is very important. More and more member states understand Croatia's concern about the status of Bosnian Croats, one of the three constituent peoples. We expect further discussion in the near future," Pejčinović Burić said, adding that conclusions in writing would be adopted at one of the next Foreign Affairs Council meetings.

In the past few weeks, Croatia has embarked on a diplomatic campaign to point out that Željko Komšić was elected as the Croat member of the BiH Presidency with Bosniak votes, contrary to the spirit of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, and that the last elections were held without agreeing on the model of electing deputies to the parliaments' upper houses after the Constitutional Court ruled that part of the election law is unconstitutional.

"We expressed our concern that attempts are being made to resolve everything at once. The situation is complex and we pushed for doing it in stages, first to apply the Constitutional Court ruling, and second to embark on amending the election law in line with the Constitutional Court ruling. Then, after the situation stabilises politically and when parliaments and governments are formed at all levels, one can work on what is certainly most important, reforms on the European Union journey," said Pejčinović Burić.

The BiH Constitutional Court struck election law provisions concerning the Federation entity parliament's House of Peoples, upholding the objection by Božo Ljubić, former chair of the BiH Parliament's House of Representatives and now a member of the Croatian parliament, who claimed the principle of proportionality in the election of deputies from different cantons was breached.

Pejčinović Burić said some EU member states were pushing for resolving all the issues in BiH at the same time through reforms required for EU membership, while others, including Croatia, were for a gradual approach.

She said Croatia was for honouring the BiH constitution, which mentions three constituent peoples – Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. "The constitution can't be brought into question. One can only ask when and how to change BiH's structure in the future."

Asked to comment on the lack of understanding in the EU of the concept of constituent peoples, she said constitutionality in BiH "isn't just a legacy of Dayton, having existed through many documents much earlier."

"A long time has passed since the Dayton agreement and the constitution which is part of it. Naturally, after 20 years, Europe is going in a different direction... towards a civic principle. That's part of the problem where states have different positions," she said.

She explained the question was whether to look at BiH through the constitution and the provisions brought by the Dayton agreement, which envisage the constitutionality of the peoples and the representation of all citizens, or to opt for the path defined by the EU's acquis, that states should have a modern organisation on the one man, one vote model.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini told reporters after the meeting the Foreign Affairs Council would discuss BiH in December again.

The ministers sent BiH three main messages – to form government as soon as possible, to focus 100% on the reform agenda which BiH citizens, notably the young, expect and which is tied to the country's European prospect. It is also necessary to focus on reforming the election law and on the concern stemming from it, she said.

All ministers are agreed that we must work very intensively with all political leaders in BiH, she added.

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

ZAGREB, November 15, 2018 - Vesna Pusić of the opposition Civic and Liberal Alliance (GLAS) said in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday that the results of the October 7 general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed that two-thirds of Croats eligible to vote did not want to support Dragan Čović in the race for the position of Croat member of the country's tripartite presidency and that this was most likely why Željko Komšić won the Bosnian elections.

"If anything is obvious from the election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it's that two-thirds of Croats eligible to vote didn't want to vote for Dragan Čović and this is most likely why Željko Komšić was elected," Pusić said during discussion on the prime minister's report on European Council meetings and a meeting of eurozone countries, held in June and November.

"Since Komšić has been elected member of the presidency, I guess it's in the interests of Croatia and all Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina that he does his job as well as possible, promoting the interests of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Pusić said, adding that the fundamental interest of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina is that the country succeeds on its path to European Union membership.

She commented on the fact that parliament should soon discuss a declaration on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Imagine if Serbia, Slovenia or Hungary adopted a declaration in parliament demanding changes to the Croatian constitution and electoral law, everyone here would jump to their feet and say it was unacceptable," the former foreign minister said.

Lawmakers from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) praised the prime minister for managing to push through the issue of the Bosnia and Herzegovina election in the EU.

Joško Klisović of the strongest opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that the prime minister's intervention in the European Council had been necessary, but that it was insufficient and belated. "You don't think we raised the subject of electoral law with our partners only after the election?" Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said, adding that previously the subject had not been raised "in a coordinated and harmonised manner."

"The problem is that those who should hear it at that level do not see this as a problem until it escalates," Plenković said.

The international community's High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Valentin Inzko, said on Wednesday he understood the dissatisfaction of the Croat people in the country over the election of Željko Komšić as their representative in the collective BiH presidency, warning however that it must be recognised that his election was lawful just as the election of Dragan Čović.

In an interview with BHT 1 public broadcaster, Inzko said Čović was elected four years ago under the same regulations, urging politicians to form a government at all levels as soon as possible.

The new tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, elected at the October 7 election, will be inaugurated on November 20, authorities in Sarajevo announced on Wednesday.

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

ZAGREB, November 14, 2018 - The Council of the European Union for foreign affairs will thoroughly analyse the general election held in Bosnia in October in an effort to resolve the problem of the "marginalisation" of Croats in that country and them being put in a "subordinate position," Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Parliament on Wednesday, speaking about Bosnia-Herzegovina elections.

Plenković presented his report on the last four meetings of the European Council, two formal meetings held late June and mid-October and two informal sessions – one in Sofia in May and the other in Salzburg held mid-September.

The prime minister expressed his satisfaction with the way his stance on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the status of the Croat people was accepted at the EU summit in Brussels in October. Within the framework of foreign affairs, Plenković spoke about Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 7 October general election in that country in which the majority Bosniak population once again outvoted the Croat population and elected the Croat member to the country's tripartite presidency.

"We consider that it is not good to have that situation, which seems to be unjust and which hinted at that the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are marginalised and that they are in a subordinate position, " Plenković told the parliament.

"The thing that we managed to succeed in and that is essential for the continuation of that debate, is that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs, Marija Pejčinović Burić will speak on behalf of Croatia at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday at the meeting that is supposed to approach in detail an analysis of the general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to consider what and how EU member states and the Union, as such, can do, while trying to solve the issue, in the dialogue with institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and political parties with regard to that problem, which objectively has a very unpleasant nature for the equality of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Plenković underscored that that is in no way interfering in the affairs of another country but that Croatia legitimately advocates the compliance with the Dayton accord of which it is a cosignatory.

Speaking of the EU summit meeting in Sofia, Plenković said that it also focused on the digital agenda and innovations as well as relations with Iran and EU-USA trade relations.

Plenković said that Croatia should invest more in the ICT sector, considering the fact that in 2017, as many as 8.4 million people were employed in that sector in the European Union, while currently a mere 35,000 people had jobs in the ICT sector in Croatia. If we want to catch up with digitisation, we must invest more in companies specialised in ICT, he added.

Plenković pointed out the significance of the EU-Western Balkan summit in Sofia, which was held at the initiative of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. This event filled the 15-year hiatus at the level of the European Council concerning dialogue with neighbours, Plenković said recalling that no meeting of this format had been held since the summit meeting in Thessaloniki in 2003.

The EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia last May brought together the heads of state or government from EU member states and from the 6 Western Balkans partners: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo. The closing declaration about European prospects for Western Balkan countries welcomed Croatia's intention to organise the next EU-Western Balkans summit during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020.

"Croatia is pursuing a policy that is fairly more open towards the enlargement process than policies in many EU member-states are," Plenković told MPs.

Commenting on Brexit, Plenković said that Croatia's position was that the departure of the U.K. from the Union should be orderly and well prepared after that "unfortunate referendum" was held with the outcome for the exit.

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