Stalni predstavnik RH pri Ujedinjenim narodima, veleposlanik Ranko Vilovic, održao je govor tijekom rasprave Vijeca sigurnosti UN-a o situaciji u Bosni i Hercegovini.
Mr. President,
At the outset, please allow me to extend my sincere congratulations to your Excellency on the occasion of assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of November.
Let me also extend my welcome to His Excellency Mr. Valentin Inzko, High Representative and Special Representative of the European Union, and thank him for his briefing and his report.
Croatia has aligned itself with the statement of the EU, but allow me to deliver a statement in my national capacity as well.
Mr. President,
Bosnia and Herzegovina developing as a fully functional state and entering NATO and EU is not only something Croatia strongly supports and will continue to support but is the crucial element of stability in the Southeast Europe.
Croatia notes with regret that 17 years after the war there are still doubts about territorial integrity and constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, instead of discussing today Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress in the NATO Membership Action Plan and opening and closing of EU membership negotiation chapters, we are compelled to struggle with separatist tendencies and obstructions of democratic processes.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a future as a member of Euro-Atlantic community, as a modern European state with developed democracy and viable competitive economy, and as a state with specific political system.
This system, rooted in Dayton Peace Accords, is in many aspects based on ethnic representation which is meant to rest on genuine equality between three constitutive peoples. This equality is the key to success of reaching ethnic-citizen balance, stability and functionality of B-H. This equality is and will continue to be for a foreseeable time condition sine qua non of political, economic and cultural life of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, this equality is not secured through the current electoral legislation. The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the least numerous
but nevertheless a constitutive people. Breaching their right to have political representatives they themselves elected is dangerous not only for their political existence but for Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. Equally detrimental would be if the other two constituent peoples were unable to elect their genuine representatives.
Having said that, it should be stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina is also a state of all its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or faith. As such, it must implement the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights on Sejdic-Finci case. The fact that citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina which do not belong to one of three constituent peoples are discriminated by the election process – as well as the fact that Bosniaks and Croats in Republika Srpska and Serbs in Federation B-H suffer the same type of discrimination – is the legacy of Dayton Peace Accords. Nevertheless, we urge the political leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach a viable and sustainable solution on this issue. We believe that the respective objective – which is a key element for the entry into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU- will be achieved at earliest possible time.
Regarding B-H advancement to NATO, we urge the political leaders in B-H to further the efforts taken regarding implementation of the six parties’ political agreement on the issue of military property and to work constructively to implement the agreement without delay in order to start B-H first Membership Action Plan (MAP) cycle as soon as possible.
Mr. President,
Croatia wants to develop the Euro-Atlantic partnership with B-H. We stand ready to cooperate closely with Bosnia and Herzegovina on all the issues relating Croatia’s future EU membership and to provide Bosnia and Herzegovina with firm political and robust technical support in this process of European integration.
Thank you Mr. President.
Priopćenja
