Most of those who discussed the adoption of a Declaration on the status of ethnic Croats in Bosnia in Croatia’s Parliament did not know how Bosnia’s Government is formed, but the adoption of the document was the right step, said the leader of the main Croat ethnic-oriented party in Bosnia on Monday.
“90 per cent of them didn’t know that someone else can elect the Presidency member for Croats (in Bosnia). We need to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European path and ensure the equality of Croats,” said the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) leader, Dragan Covic.
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“It is our duty to fight for nobody ever electing Croat representatives (except for Croats),” said Covic. We expressed full support for the Declaration and this issue needs to be worked on in the future.”
Bosnia’s HDZ is a sister party of the ruling party in Croatia, which carries the same name.
The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted a declaration on the status of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina which calls for amending Bosnia’s Constitution and election legislation with the aim of enabling the Croats, the least numerous constituent people, to be equal to the other two peoples in that country.
Bosnia’s Presidency consists of three members, each from one of the three majority ethnic groups in the country, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.
Bosnian Croat and Croatian officials have been saying that, in the October general election, the Croat representative in the country’s tripartite presidency was elected thanks to the ballots cast by Bosniak voters, which was contrary to the spirit of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the 1992-1995 war in the country.
Croatia adopted a document on Friday which reiterated that point, but also said that Croats in Bosnia are marginalised.
The Declaration was, however, met with criticism in Bosnia.
A group of intellectuals gathered in Sarajevo and announced they would put together an ‘anti-declaration’.
The harshest criticism, however, came from the main Bosniak ethnic-oriented political party in the country, the Party for Democratic Union (SDA).
They said that Croatia’s behaviour represents a “grave attempt to damage the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Despite the disagreement over Croatia’s Declaration, SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic hinted on Monday that a coalition between the SDA, the HDZ and the Bosnian Serb election winner, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), is most likely.
