Milanović fiercely attacked Plenković over BiH: He wants to be a bigger Ursula than Von der Leyen

(Patria) - Croatian President Zoran Milanović issued a statement today commenting on the announced start of BiH's negotiations with the European Union.

Milanović fiercely attacked Prime Minister Andrej Plenković because, as he says, he did not advocate enough for the rights of Croats in BiH.

"The President of the Republic, Zoran Milanović, welcomes the announced opening of negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina for membership in the European Union.

BiH's entry into the EU is important for Croatia for several reasons, but the key reason is that BiH's entry into the EU is a strategic, national, and security interest of Croatia because the Croatian people also live in BiH, because it shares the longest land border with BiH, and because Croatia and BiH are historically, culturally, and economically deeply connected friendly states.

In recent years, President Milanović has persistently advocated for granting candidate status to BiH and the start of membership negotiations with BiH; moreover, he is still convinced today that BiH deserved it earlier.

He also advocated and requested from the Government of the Republic of Croatia - which represents Croatia in EU institutions - and from those same institutions to ensure all the rights for the Croatian people in BiH that they must have as a constituent and equal people of BiH.

And that means the right to legitimate representation of Croats in all bodies of authority in BiH, including the right of Croats in BiH to elect their member of the Presidency of BiH themselves.

However, Croats in BiH are facing negotiations with the EU without the right to elect their representative in the highest state institution themselves, because the electoral legislation has not been changed to this day.

Furthermore, negotiations are entering with the clear intention of European bureaucracy to create a so-called civic state in BiH, in which the rights of constituent peoples will be taken into account even less than today.

For the Croatian people in BiH, but also for Croatia, this is unacceptable and dangerous, especially since it is to be expected that during the negotiation process, additional concessions and compromises will be demanded from the authorities in BiH.

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European Commission formally recommended opening membership negotiations with BiH

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Given all this, the statement by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who called the start of BiH's negotiations with the EU 'the greatest foreign policy success of the Government in this term', represents the peak of his sycophancy towards Brussels bureaucrats.

For his political career, it might be a success because it has fully aligned with Brussels' understanding of the rights of Croats in BiH. But for the Croatian people in BiH, such a 'greatest foreign policy success of the Government' is as if the path to political hell has been paved.

Plenković is now boasting that his partners in Brussels have heard his messages regarding BiH - presenting himself as a bigger Ursula than Von der Leyen - even though all these years we have neither heard nor seen him say no even once in Brussels to anyone, until the rights of Croats in BiH are guaranteed.

At no European Council or meeting with his Brussels partners has Plenković invoked the right that every sovereign EU member state has and uses.

When Croatia was forbidden to participate in the EU mission in BiH, or when the High Representative for Foreign Policy lied about the rights of Croatia as an EU member, or when his European partners legalized an illegal member of the BiH Presidency - Plenković did not utter a word.

Instead of using the voting right that Croatia has as a full EU member at least once, when he could and had to, to protect the interests of the Croatian people in BiH and the national interest of Croatia, Plenković is now, in a tsunami of pre-election self-praise, presenting even the difficult and uncertain fate of the Croatian people in BiH as his success.

Plenković is acting as if he doesn't know that his Brussels partners will further attack the rights of Croats in BiH because, for them, only a civic BiH is a good enough BiH to be an EU member.

President Milanović's position is: BiH must join the EU as a state in which Croats will be a constituent and equal people who will elect their representatives in the bodies of authority themselves, including the member of the BiH Presidency.

And Croatia, as a full EU member, must use all instruments - just as other member states do when protecting their interests - to ensure such a status for Croats in BiH and protect not only them but also Croatia's strategic national interests", Milanović stated in his extensive statement.