FM Kovač: Croatia supports Bosnia's EU membership application

(Hina) - Croatia welcomes Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for membership to the European Union as the prospects of membership are a strong factor for transforming society, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said

(Hina) - Croatia welcomes Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for membership to the European Union as the prospects of membership are a strong factor for transforming society, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said on Monday in Brussels.

"Croatia welcomes Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for membership to the European Union (EU). That is a very important step on the path to include Bosnia and Herzegovina into the EU. Croatia has a special responsibility as a neighbouring country and as a signatory of the Dayton Peace Accords. Croats live in Bosnia and Herzegovina with their friends, Bosniaks and Serbs as a constituent, equal people and this act of applying for candidature will be the first step to strengthening the state as such. The prospects of EU membership are impetus to transform society based on common European values," Minister Kovač said in Brussels where he was attending an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.

Ahead of the ministerial meeting, the chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Dragan Čović handed over the application for membership to the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders whose country is currently chairing the EU.

Minister Kovač underscored that the path to the EU is a painstaking process but it is important that it has been launched.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a strong partner in Croatia in the implementation of all those reforms necessary so that one day it can achieve its objective of accessing the EU. We will be stringent but fair on the path to help and evaluate the implementation of reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the path to the EU," Kovač said.

He underscored that Bosnia and Herzegovina would be subjected to the same criteria as other candidates, including a criterion of the implementation of the Stabilisation and Accession Agreement (SAA) to take into account Croatia's membership to the EU.

Asked whether the new electoral legislation that has been announced in Bosnia and Herzegovina will resolve the status of Croats in that country and the election of the Croat member to the Presidency and in the House of Peoples, Kovač stressed that Croatia supported equality for Croats in that country.

"We support the equality of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with their friends the Bosniaks and Serbs and we will support any solution that will in fact achieve that equality," Kovač said.

He said that the process of accession to the EU was exceptionally difficult, particularly with regard to the crises that the EU is experiencing, from the migrant crisis to the debt crisis as well as Brexit.

EU does not see enlargement as a priority but this not need worry Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighbouring countries. What is important is that they continue to be motivated and that we in the EU be prepared to accept them when they meet all the criteria, Kovač said.

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