The leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) Dragan Covic said on Thursday that he was sure the HDZ party, together with its partners in Croatia, would win the 17 April parliamentary elections and announced the full engagement of the HDZ BiH party in the election race for Constituency 11.

Covic said in an interview with Bosnia and Herzegovina's FENA news agency on Thursday that it was not all the same who would win the Croatian parliamentary elections and “for us, it is extremely important to have the continuity of the current government” and to be able to maintain the pace of the cross-border cooperation, including the absorption of funds.

We will have much easier access to those (EU) funds via our friends in Croatia, with whom we have smooth cooperation. Six or seven ministerial departments in Croatia are directly involved in ensuring that segment of funding projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said.

Covic is sure that the HDZ and its partners will have a convincing majority in the 11th Sabor.

Constituency 11, covering the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and expat Croats living in the Diaspora, has three seats in the Croatian Parliament and Covic believes that the HDZ BiH will once again win all those three seats.

He said that it is important to have one of Croatia's 12 members of the European Parliament from Bosnia and Herzegovina who can authentically present the status of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the status of the Croat people to the European Parliament.

Covic expressed his gratitude to Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic for his contribution to the European Union's recent decision to greenlight the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. He added that President Zoran Milanovic and Sabor Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic had also supported that cause.

Interconnection of gas supply network

Covic said that despite pressures, he would not jettison his idea that the project of a gas pipeline interconnection between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina should be within the remit of a new company to be established in Mostar, rather than the BH-Gas company being in charge of that task.

“The project is of strategic importance for both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

“I can understand friends who would like to arrange it differently, however, this cannot be done without the Croat people. This is nobody's private interest.”

“You cannot embark on a business worth, €300, 400 or 500 million in the next seven or eight years by excluding the interest of the people who will use that infrastructure, and those are cantons with a predominantly Croat population,” he explained in response to the U.S. Administration's criticism of his plan.