Croat member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite Presidency Dragan Covic announced on Sunday the opening of a joint representative office of several Bosnia's cantons in Brussels within the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR).

Covic said there was a lack of an office that would represent the regions dominated by ethnic Croats living in Bosnia, in a dignified manner.

“Exactly in line with the cantonal constitutions, which enables the merging of their joint activities within the competences assigned by the constitution, we have finished the preparations and the office will be open shortly,” said Covic.

One of the two Bosnia’s semi-autonomous entities, the Federation (FBiH) consists of ten cantons, political units that have their own governments and parliaments but whose competences are set out in the FBiH Constitution. As the Federation is shared by Bosniaks and Croats, two of three major and constituent peoples in Bosnia, the cantons themselves are also dominated or shared by one of these two ethnic groups.

Covic thanked Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic and Croatia’s counties for their contribution in Brussels, which helped to solve the administrative issues towards the opening of Bosnian cantons’ office in the capital of Europe.

The goal of the office opening, he explained, is to represent “our European policy, to communicate with their administration and to enable the connectivity for all those institutions that enable us to join the big project.”

The Presidency member confirmed he would attend a ceremony in Zagreb on June 30, marking the fifth anniversary of Croatia’s EU membership, and will also attend a private dinner with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other officials.

“I will once again ask and very clearly lobby for our Bosnia and Herzegovina at those meetings and the dinner, for my homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina on its road to Europe…,” said Covic, adding that he would ask for the Bosnia’s candidate status immediately after the upcoming October election and government formation.

Bosnia and Herzegovina formally applied for the EU membership in February 2016 and is currently undergoing the process of answering the follow-up questions from the European Commission’s Questionnaire as a part of the overall procedure towards the possible positive answer to its membership application and candidate status.