Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic called on Bosnia and Herzegovina's Croat and Bosniak leaders on Thursday to make the extra effort to agree on a fair election law in that country.

“I once again call on the leaders of the Bosniak and Croat political parties, especially before a meeting of the Croat National Assembly in Mostar on Saturday, to try and resolve this problem in a fair and constructive way, and Croatia, as a friendly country, will help Bosnia and Herzegovina on its European path,” Plenkovic said in Brussels.

Ahead of an informal EU summit on the Ukraine crisis and an EU-Africa summit, Plenkovic met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, discussing the extension of the deadline for the use of EU funding for the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia’s journey towards membership of the Schengen area and the euro zone.

“Our position is clear: it is vital for the next election (in Bosnia and Herzegovina) to be held under a new, fair election law that will ensure legitimate representation, rather than hold the election at any cost, as a result of which the Croats might again be left feeling bad and the state would not be functioning well,” Plenkovic said.

As for Croatia’s Schengen bid, he said that the process was now “in the final stage of decision making.”