The European Commission's decision to recommend opening accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of Croatia's most important foreign policy achievements in this government's term, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday while commenting on the statement by EC President Ursula von der Leyen. President of Croatia Zoran Milanovic also welcomed the announced opening of accession negotiations as a move perceived as "Croatia's strategic, national and security interest", but he warned that local Croats are still not able to exercise their right to elect their representative in the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina on their own.

Von der Leyen told the plenary session of the European Parliament on Tuesday that she would recommend that the Council opens accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The European Commission is meeting on Tuesday afternoon to decide on the recommendation to open negotiations. The recommendation will be decided by the General Affairs Council, which comprises the ministers of foreign or European affairs of the EU member states, next Tuesday, and then by the member states’ leaders at their 21-22 March summit.

“For us, in foreign policy terms and in terms of our strategic national interests, the decision that will be taken next week to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of Croatia's most important foreign policy achievements in this term,” Plenkovic said.

He said that this decision “is important for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for all three of its constituent peoples, in particular for the Croats who have always been staunch advocates of Bosnia and Herzegovina's European path.”

“Since 2016, Croatia has helped Bosnia and Herzegovina more than anyone else to submit a membership application. A year and a half ago it helped Bosnia and Herzegovina more than anyone else to get candidate status and implement the necessary reforms in the last three months,” the PM said.

“We travelled to Sarajevo and said: Now is the time. This message was heard by our partners and institutions and they took the steps that have made this recommendation possible,” he added, referring to his visit to the Bosnian capital in late January together with von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Plenkovic said that he had been in close contact with the EC president over this matter in the last three weeks.

“We have been working all these days to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina takes the necessary steps so that the Commission could say clearly that enough criteria have been fulfilled to open negotiations,” he said.

Plenkovic said that EU enlargement was a matter of the Union's “absorption capacity”, adding that enlargement would be one of the topics discussed in the years ahead, notably Ukraine's membership.

Milanovic: It's dangerous Eurocrats seek to make Bosnia a civic state

Bosnia and Herzegovina must enter the EU with the Croats being on an equal footing with the other two constituent peoples, President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday, adding that it is dangerous that EU bureaucrats are entering into negotiations with a clear intent to make BiH a civic state.

Although he welcomes the announced opening of accession negotiations between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a move perceived as “Croatia's strategic, national and security interest”, the Croatian president warns that local Croats are still not able to exercise their right to elect their representative in the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina on their own. He also warns about obstacles for Croats to have their legitimate representatives in all bodies of authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“On top of that, negotiations are being entered into with the clear intention of EU bureaucrats to make Bosnia and Herzegovina a so-called civic state which will care about the rights of the constituent peoples even less than now.”

“For the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as for Croatia, this is unacceptable and dangerous, particularly when one can expect that during the negotiating process Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities will be required to make additional concessions and compromises.”

“Bosnia and Herzegovina must enter the European Union as a country in which the Croats are a constituent and equal people that can elect its representatives in public authorities, including a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

As a full member of the EU, Croatia must make use of all instruments, just as other member states do to protect their interests, to ensure that the Croats in BiH enjoy such status and thus protect both the BiH Croats and its own national interests, the Croatian president said in a press release.