Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that President Zoran Milanovic, by insulting international officials, is causing damage to the interests of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that he will continue to strongly advocate their equality.
“Unlike Milanovic and others who are causing damage to the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina by insulting our international allies, we are helping the Croats while supporting the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our aim is to ensure the equality of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and not their isolation,” Plenkovic said in an interview with the BiH edition of the Vecernji List daily.
The Croatian president has repeatedly called for Zagreb's more radical response to the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina being outvoted by the more numerous Bosniaks, even by making it conditional on Bosnia and Herzegovina's further journey to EU membership.
Plenkovic said that the discriminatory practice used by the three and a half times more numerous Bosniaks to impose the Croat member of the country's Presidency should be ended. Zeljko Komsic has been elected Croat member of the Presidency four times and Croatia's government officials have refused to meet with him.
“We will not stop until the Croats are guaranteed legitimate representation through the election of the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Croatian PM said.
Plenkovic said that the decision by the European Union to open membership talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina was historically important and one of Croatia's greatest foreign policy achievements.
He said that the continued progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the EU would require a strong involvement of all political stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably regarding the election reform so that the Croats could achieve equal status as a constituent people.
Commenting on the gas connection between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina through the southern gas interconnection, Plenkovic reiterated that this project should eliminate dependence on Russian gas and that the position of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina on this matter should be taken into consideration.
The leader of the Bosnian Croat HDZ party, Dragan Covic, insists that this project should be managed by a company that would be based in Mostar, which has drawn criticism from the US administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“In seeking an appropriate solution, account must be taken of the positions and interests of all, including the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Plenkovic said.
Answering a question about expectations from the parliamentary election in Croatia on Wednesday, Plenkovic said that Croatia was choosing between progress, increasing the quality of life of its citizens and strengthening its influence in Europe and the world with an HDZ government on the one hand and a return to uncertainty, instability and international isolation on the other.
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