Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Cordas said that the present Elections Act denied the active and passive right to vote to about 150,000 Croat refugees outside Bosnia and Herzegovina because they had to re-register for each new election, for which he said the government did not ensure the necessary funds.
Cordas said that Croats had not fully repossessed their property in Republika Srpska, citing 97 claims for property, mainly in the Banja Luka area. He said that legal actions took four to five years to complete.
Pack said that in Cordas the Croats of Republika Srpska had finally got the politician who would effectively fight for their rights.
Pack said that it was necessary to reconstruct the Posavina region and create conditions for the return of Croats who had lived there before the 1992-1995 war. She noted that Croatia was probably interested in investing in the region.
Commenting on speculations about the possible formation of a third, Croat-majority entity, Cordas said that the HDZ BiH party advocated equal rights for all three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was not guaranteed with the present division of the country into two entities "because the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is dominated by Bosniaks and Republika Srpska by Serbs."
"We think that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be divided into regions, with each territorial unit having legislative, executive and judicial authority. Whether it will be three, five or more regions is a matter of agreement," Cordas said.
Speaking of her impressions from her three-day visit to the Bosnian Serb entity, Pack said that Republika Srpska had a stable government and that its prime minister, Milorad Dodik, had heard all her objections and suggestions.
"My impression is that he will work in that direction and I am optimistic about it," Pack said, announcing that she would visit Republika Srpska again in three months' time.