Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Saturday that Bosnia's progress towards the European Union was a strategic interest for Croatia and one of the priorities of its EU presidency while he advocated for Bosnian Croat efforts to achieve equality through election law amendments.

“We want to see Bosnia's progress on that journey. That's our strategic interest because we share the longest border,” Grlic-Radman told reporters.

As chairman of the Croatian Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ruling party's committee on foreign and European affairs, he met with the president of the Bosnian HDZ party, Dragan Covic, to talk about the priorities of Croatia's EU presidency in the first half of next year.

Grlic-Radman said it was very important to make progress in EU enlargement.

“It's very important for us to open prospects for candidate countries and open negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. Croatia will work very hard to send a clear message by May to the countries of Southeast Europe, i.e. the Western Balkans.”

He said Croatia would continue to strongly insist on equality for Bosnian Croats through Bosnia's election law amendments so that their political representatives were no longer elected by the larger ethnic groups in the country.

“Croatia supports all the vital interests of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, starting from amendments to the election law to ensure their right to the election of representatives at all levels of government, which is a protection mechanism and foundation of the Dayton Agreement,” said Grlic-Radman, adding that the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina depended on the stability and equality of its three constituent ethnic groups.

Asked about the priorities of Croatia's EU presidency, he said Brexit would be the dominant topic and that Croatia would insist on a bigger financial framework for the seven-year EU budget.

Covic said he expected the Council of the EU to invite Bosnia to open accession negotiations in May, adding that he hoped the country could launch the negotiations together with North Macedonia and Albania.