Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Banja Luka on Saturday he expects Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet the conditions necessary for opening EU membership talks, and added that Croatia will continue to strongly support BiH on its European journey, as well as the Croats living there.

“We are fighting for Bosnia and Herzegovina as if we were fighting for Croatia,” Plenkovic told the Croatian media, assessing that Bosnia and Herzegovina has invested a lot of effort to meet the criteria set by the European Commission in order to recommend to the European Council to approve the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina at its session on 20 and 21 March.

The European Commission requested that BiH open negotiations with Frontex by then, pass three laws and carry out the electoral law reform. So far, the law on preventing money laundering has been adopted and negotiations with Frontex have been opened, but the remaining three legal solutions are still being debated, while the deadline for their adoption is approaching.

Plenkovic said he is confident that Bosnia and Herzegovina can still reach the set goal, adding that he is in constant communication with the Chairperson of the BiH Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo.

He underscored that legislation is being passed and reforms are being implemented, expressing his optimism that the remaining laws will be enacted and that his counterparts in the EU countries will acknowledge the progress BiH made since December.

Plenkovic arrived in Banja Luka to attend a ceremony marking the ordination of Zeljko Majic, the new Bishop of Banja Luka. Following a meeting with Majic and now retired Bishop Franjo Komarica, he expressed his desire to provide support to the new bishop and extended his gratitude to Komarica for all the work he has accomplished.

He stressed it is important that the Croatian government once again shows its support for the Croats in northwestern Bosnia, as it strongly supports the equality of the Croats as one of the three constituent peoples in BiH.

Asked if there was anything else that could be done to encourage the return of Croats to ​​the Banja Luka diocese, where only about 30,000 believers are left, Plenkovic said the best thing to do is to ensure permanent stability and speed up the process of European integration.