Croatia trying to keep region “on EU radar” with Bosnia proposal

(Hina) - A majority of European Union member states believe that a different approach towards Bosnia and Herzegovina is necessary and Croatia has offered "a proposal for talks...

(Hina) - A majority of European Union member states believe that a different approach towards Bosnia and Herzegovina is necessary and Croatia has offered "a proposal for talks," Croatian European and Foreign Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić said on Monday.

The Croatian government has sent to Brussels a non-paper in which it proposes dealing with the Bosnian political crisis by opening a negotiation process which will enable BiH to gradually become ready to meet all the EU membership requirements, instead of waiting that it meet the requirements before being allowed to negotiate membership.

"We offered a base, a proposal for talks," Pusić told reporters regarding the non-paper. "There is absolute awareness among all or a huge majority of the member states that a different approach is necessary. We will see if this is that approach, but it will certainly help in having our region and BiH on the radar of all member states, which is important in the conditions we are in."

The proposal will also be a base for conclusions on BiH which will expand the approach and make it more efficient, Pusić said giving a talk at a communication management college on Croatia and the EU in relation to the geopolitical relations in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis.

Elections for the European Parliament have been called for May 25 and Pusić, a member of the People's Party, a member of Croatia's coalition government, said it was particularly important that people went to the polls and that the campaign was not dirty.

"If the campaign is dirty and aggressive, it will be counterproductive, it will demotivate people. People are sick of meanness and negative messages. It's important to show, notably in this context of changed geopolitical conditions, to what extent this European framework is important to us, that it's good and gives us security," Pusić said.

"I would say to everyone, if they wish this country well, to keep away from fighting and dirty campaigns and to try to tell people why this is good for them and what can be done with it," she added.

At the talk, she said the European Parliament passed 50 per cent of all laws by which EU citizens lived. "It's important that our people go to the polls and recognise the extent to which the whole thing makes no sense without them. Imagine if someone today asked the Ukrainians if they would go to the European elections. Probably all would," she said.

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