The European Parliament rapporteur on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Doris Pack, has said she disagrees with Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic’s proposal for a new European Union approach to BiH to step up the negotiating process between BiH and the EU.
There should be no new or different requirements for BiH other than those which apply to all other states, Pack was quoted as saying in the Bosnian daily Oslobodjenje of Tuesday.
Every country has its difficulties and those in BiH are different than, say, in Serbia. Serbia had problems with Kosovo, while BiH has a situation based on (the) Dayton (peace agreement), she said.
Pack said BiH’s Constitution had created the problems such as those relating to the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case, but added that BiH should not be awarded special candidate status because of that.
The key to the solution for BiH is the equality of all three constituent peoples. It must not happen that Bosniaks believe that they must make all the decisions while Croats have no say, Pack said, adding that all the problems could not be solved at once, but their number must be reduced.
Asked what federalisation, mentioned in the European Parliament’s latest resolution, would mean for BiH, Pack said this was about respecting the two entities as constituent parts of BiH and that there should be no centralisation within the Federation entity.
When we say federation, we mean the one consisting of two parts, she said, adding that no one in the EP advocated the further federalisation of the Federation entity.
If cantons are abolished, one must see that Croats in the Federation are not neglected, but there can be no new divisions and a third entity is out of the question, said Pack.
