Croatian MEP, Zeljana Zovko, said that Croatia agrees that Bosnia and Herzegovina should receive EU candidate status, but also that her country is advocating for the “injustice” against Croats in BiH regarding the electoral system to end.

“The European Commission recommendation clearly states what needs to be fulfilled,” she said, adding that the EU expects “the formation of the authorities and an agreement on how these conditions will be met” following the election in BiH.

“There is not much time, these are the moments that should be used and the decision is up to the political leaders if they want to take advantage of the positive moments for the Western Balkans and BiH because of everything that is happening in the geopolitical sense,” she added.

Forming the government is by far not the only thing that must be done, she stressed, adding that this is simply necessary in order to “agree on the first and basic condition of the implementation of the Election Law and the Constitution.”

“I believe that a coalition should be formed that will fulfil the promises already made,” she said.

Zovko said BiH “always had the support of Croatia and will always have it.”

“Regardless of what happens in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croat people and the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina remain there, whose biggest advocate is Croatia. Croatia is advocating that the injustice that was done to the Croatian people be rectified,” she said.

Zovko also spoke about the upcoming EU appearance of the High Representative of the international community in BiH, Christian Schmidt, at an EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee session on November 30. Schmidt was invited to explain his recent decision to impose changes to the BiH Election Law.

“Mr. Schmidt is coming as a High Representative to the EP's Foreign Policy Committee, which has no authority over UN officials, nor did it have it. He comes because he himself wanted to come to exchange opinions,” she said.

Zovko said that the Croat member of the BiH Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, “was not elected in a legitimate way” and that this will continue to cause problems for BiH in the next four years.

“I expect an agreement, every time the High Representative intervenes someone is not happy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina can only move forward with an agreement and solve problems with the European future,” she said.