In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković voiced strong support for Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the European Union, while also expressing concern over ongoing political instability in the region.
Plenković emphasised that EU enlargement should be a strategic priority, particularly in the Western Balkans. Highlighting Bosnia's importance, he said: "We as Croatia would very much like to see that Bosnia and Herzegovina as our immediate neighbour, a country where Croats are constituent and people with equal rights with Bosniaks and Serbs should towards the dynamics that other countries of the region have and we want to help them."
Bosnia has long aspired to join the European Union, but progress has been hindered by internal divisions between the three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — and a complex political structure created by the 1995 Dayton Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War.
The country is divided into two entities or main administrative units: the Bosniak-Croat majority Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) with an umbrella state-level government in Sarajevo.
This, and further administrative divisions, have created a system often described as the world's most complex democracy, which remains heavily reliant on consensus by all three main ethnic groups.
Plenković expressed particular concern about secessionist rhetoric and actions coming from the RS, led by nationalist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
"We would very much like that Bosnia and Herzegovina shifts from potential instability. And these tendencies of secession when it comes to the Republika Srpska to a more harmonious and functional situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the EU path and reforms which are beneficial to citizens both in economic and social terms are implemented," Plenković explained.
He warned that delays in EU integration could allow other global powers to expand their influence in the region.
"The more slower the process is, the more influence of other global actors in the region we have, whether it's Russia, whether it is China, whether is some other countries," Plenković explained. "And therefore we are advocating a structured and dynamic process."
Plenković wants the issue of Bosnia's EU membership — and the broader future of the Western Balkans — to be on the agenda of the June European Council meeting.
