The Croatian government wants entry talks between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina to be opened as soon as possible because it demands the equality of BiH's three peoples, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Thursday, while the right opposition said BiH's breakup was likelier than EU accession.

The granting of candidate status to BiH is our big success because we resolutely pushed for that EU decision, which was not guaranteed, and now Croatia is pushing for the next step, the opening of accession negotiations as soon as possible, the minister said in parliament, presenting a report on the implementation of the Declaration on the status of Croats in BiH in 2022.

BiH is the biggest recipient of Croatia's development aid, with the Central State Office for Croats Outside Croatia alone ensuring €4.5 million for health, education and culture projects, the minister said.

However, he added, BiH is faced with numerous threats, notably Serb separatism as well as unitarism, which he defined as the outvoting of minorities.

When BiH begins the accession negotiations, it must begin to implement the acquis which envisages equality and human rights, he said. “We can't allow Croats in BiH to become a minority that will only have a culture, exhibitions and the like.”

Croatian Sovereignists MP Marijan Pavlicek said BiH was dysfunctional at all government levels with a huge number of ministers and two entities without a common stand on any important issue.

He said BiH would never become an equal EU member state because it could not survive without foreign aid. “It's an international community protectorate. I'm afraid it will sooner break up than become a full member.”

BiH is as it is because of “dilettante international factors,” a pointless state, without prospects or chances, and that is what the Croatian policy should focus on, said Ante Prkacin of Hrvatsko Bilo.

Grlic Radman said he was not satisfied with the current situation and that the government was doing all it could to make it better. Every year we see some progress, but it is achieved through quality work, he added.

He said the BiH electoral reform was one of the biggest challenges in the politically turbulent 2022.

The Croatian prime minister held a score of meetings with the legitimate political representatives of BiH's three peoples so that an agreement could be reached on the electoral reform that would allow all peoples to be legitimately represented at all government levels, he added.

In the BiH Presidency, Croats are represented by Zeljko Komsic, although he was elected by Bosniak voters, the minister said, adding that Croatian President Zoran Milanovic is partly to blame for that.

In 2006, when the Dayton peace agreement was violated for the first time, he supported Komsic as an illegitimate representative of BiH Croats because he was not elected by them, the minister said.

Dalija Oreskovic (SIP) said the ruling HDZ party's advocacy of electoral reform in BiH was hypocritical.

The electoral reform in Croatia was done by the HDZ and everyone else was excluded from political participation, without the possibility to state their views on the formation of the constituencies, including constitutional law experts, she added.