President Zoran Milanovic has said that taking care of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croats is Croatia's constitutional commitment and permanent national interest, and has called for their guaranteed legitimate representation in Bosnia's authorities, urging the government to act in unison with him.

“The existence, constituent status and welfare of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the strategic interest of the Republic of Croatia,” Milanovic said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The statement was released on the occasion of the resumption of negotiations on changing Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitution and election legislation.

Taking care of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most of whom are also European Union citizens, is not only Croatia’s constitutional obligation but also a permanent national interest of the Croatian state, Milanovic said.

He added that both to Croatia and the Croatian people it is important to have, along the country’s longest, eastern state border, a whole, stable and friendly Bosnia and Herzegovina that will function as a law-based democratic country of the three constituent  peoples: the Croats, the Bosniaks and the Serbs.

Earlier in the day, the United States special envoy for the Bosnia’s electoral reform, Matthew Palmer, and a managing director at the European External Action Service, Angelina Eichhorst, began a new round of negotiations in Sarajevo with representatives of Bosnia’s authorities and political parties aimed at reaching agreement on electoral law and constitutional changes.

They called the local politicians to reach an agreement as soon as possible and achieve a compromise on electoral reform, saying that time is running out as the next election is due in October.

Milanovic pointed out that the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is faced with the permanent loss of its equality and status of a constituent people.

He dismissed as unacceptable and against the law the long-standing practice which has so far made it possible for members of other peoples to elect office-holders who are supposed to represent the Croat people.

Therefore, he called for guaranteeing the Croats legitimate representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities.

The legitimate representation of the Croats must be ensured not only in the election of a member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency but also in the election of legitimate representatives of the Croats in the House of Peoples in the Croat-Bosniak Federation, he underscored.

‘Bosnia can’t survive without Croats’

The Croatian head of state warned that “without clear constitutional and legislative guarantees, including the guarantee for legitimate representation in the House of Peoples in the Bosnian Federation, the Croats in that country will be permanently exposed to election manipulation, and would be reduced to an ethnic minority, and thus forced to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“The Republic of Croatia must not and will not let it happen. Bosnia and Herzegovina without the Croats cannot exist,” said Milanovic.

He called on the Croatian government to act in unison with him in providing support to the Croat people in the neighbouring country.

“I again urge the government to act together with me and use all the political and diplomatic mechanisms at our disposal and to provide pivotal support to the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Only concerted action, firm advocacy and uncompromising implementation of such a position can result in permanent and efficient protection of the rights of the Croats as an equal people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus provide for the national interest of the Republic of Croatia, Milanovic said.

The president expects international partners to recognise the importance of restricted changes of the Constitution and the election legislation to enable the Croats to exercise their rights as a constituent people, noting that this is the only right path towards achieving permanent stability for Bosnia and Herzegovina.