MOSTAR, February 20 (FENA) – The Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) in BiH has adopted seven conclusions regarding the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and these conclusions state, among other things, that the formal and legal conditions for calling general elections will not be met if no agreement is previously reached on changes to the electoral legislation.
In this regard, the HNS President Dragan Čović called on Bosniak representatives and those of other political parties to continue negotiations on electoral reform.
The last conclusion of the presented ones on Saturday states that “if the process of stripping of the constituent status of the Croat people continues, the HNS will initiate all legal procedures and political steps for the new institutional and territorial organization of BiH on the principles of federalism and consociational democracy, which will ensure full constitutional equality of all three constitutive peoples in BiH”.
When asked by a journalist to clarify what this specifically means, Čović said at a press conference that the text of the conclusions was clear enough and that there was no need for further interpretation.
“There is no need for any clarification on the read conclusions, they are long enough, meaningful and unambiguous. Whether someone will want to draw some conclusions from one sentence, or from one of the seven conclusions, I leave it to them,” said Čović.
He added that he would be the happiest man in the world if the negotiation process was successfully completed in the next ten days and that the amendments to the Election Law and limited amendments to the Constitution create the preconditions for organizing the election process in the most democratic procedure.
Čović emphasized that all HNS members, without exception, have committed themselves to consistently respecting the constitution and laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The head of the HDZ BiH and the HNS announced that negotiations on changes to the Election Law would continue in Mostar on Tuesday (February 22).
“We agreed that there will be no representatives of the international community in the first part, but also when I talked to Mr. Borrell and Mr. Sattler, we agreed that it is quite realistic that if this step goes further on the trail of already established proposals from Neum, we should go for the upgrade, meaning the election of two members of the Presidency of BiH from the Federation of BiH, we have more or less agreed on other things, then at the end of the week or the beginning of the second week, there would be another meeting with representatives of the international community to complete the process,” said Čović.
He added that he hoped Bosniak politicians would understand and recognize the messages of the HNS.
“The Croat side has opened the door for talks and agreement all the way, as the door to the future of our homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina. I urge them to understand this in this way, and if the behavior is as it has been so far by some of these negotiators, of course, none of the people here are optimistic that something would be done.
I deeply believe that this partnership with international institutions, which have a huge responsibility for what would be agreed upon, can create enough incentives in this environment that surrounds us, to pull Bosnia and Herzegovina out of the crisis, and not only the political one,” said the president of the HNS.
