Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who on Monday attended a commemoration for late European Parliament President David Sassoli in Strasbourg, discussed with European politicians attending the event, among other things, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia's Schengen zone entry.

Before the ceremony in Sassoli's honour, Plenkovic met with his potential successor, acting European Parliament President Roberta Matsola, a Maltese member of the European People's Party group in the EP.

“I believe that (she) will become the new EP President and succeed Sassoli in the next two and a half years of this EP's term,” he said.

On the margins of his Strasbourg visit, the Croatian PM also held talks with European Council President Charles Michel, with Plenkovic saying he had told Michel that it would be very important to “discuss the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the highest level.”

“So that we can support its sovereignty, integrity, good functioning as well as help its functioning be better and for all constituent peoples to feel better about having a better election system,” he said.

Plenkovic and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a dialogue with the EPP group focusing on Croatia's entry to Schengen and the euro area and on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“In all those talks I explained to my colleagues the expected dynamic of decision-making both regarding Croatia's accession to Schengen and its euro area entry, and the current situation in the southeast of Europe, notably Bosnia and Herzegovina,”  Plenkovic told reporters.

“We are entering a final stage of negotiations that should also result in a consensus on changes to the election law so that the next election is held and so that Croats, being a constituent people equal (to the other two constituent peoples), can elect their legitimate representatives to the highest BiH institutions,” he said.