ZAGREB, March 16 (Hina) - During Friday's discussion in the Croatian parliament on the Dayton peace accords, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said the government neither had nor offered a general project or plan for the reconstruction
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but was determined and intended to discuss a series of possible solutions with Bosnian Croats and other peoples in Bosnia, the country's leadership as well as with the international community. The often mentioned cantonisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina is only one of the ideas which has appeared in many forms since 1990 and been proposed by different sides, Picula said in the parliament, adding the idea should still be discussed. Commenting on the plans on Bosnia-Herzegovina, Picula said the Croatian government's standpoint was that Bosnia should reach a solution on its own. He stressed the most important thing at the moment was to have the leadership of
ZAGREB, March 16 (Hina) - During Friday's discussion in the
Croatian parliament on the Dayton peace accords, Foreign Minister
Tonino Picula said the government neither had nor offered a general
project or plan for the reconstruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but
was determined and intended to discuss a series of possible
solutions with Bosnian Croats and other peoples in Bosnia, the
country's leadership as well as with the international community.
The often mentioned cantonisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina is only
one of the ideas which has appeared in many forms since 1990 and been
proposed by different sides, Picula said in the parliament, adding
the idea should still be discussed.
Commenting on the plans on Bosnia-Herzegovina, Picula said the
Croatian government's standpoint was that Bosnia should reach a
solution on its own.
He stressed the most important thing at the moment was to have the
leadership of the Croat National Assembly and Bosnia's Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ BH) understand that the realisation of the
notion of establishing a Croat self-government was directly
damaging the interest of Bosnian Croats.
The Croatian foreign minister said the international community's
High Representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, on several
occasions encouraged Bosnian Croats to jointly seek appropriate
solutions within the Bosnia-Herzegovina Constitution, which
emphasises the quality of being constituent of all three peoples.
Analysing the tension in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Picula pointed to the
failures of the Dayton agreement which brought peace in Bosnia, but
its after-war implementation did not give expected results.
Picula believes the former ruling parties obstructed the
establishment of a multiethnic, tolerant society. According to
him, the international community is also partially responsible for
the tension.
The Croatian foreign minister reminded that the crisis started
ahead of the last elections in November, when the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) changed the way of
electing representatives to the houses of peoples on the federal
and state level, giving Bosniaks the power to influence the
election of Croat representatives.
According to Picula, the HDZ used the situation, which gradually
escalated and resulted in the decision on the establishment of
Croat self-government.
The Croatian government believes such hasty decisions are
jeopardising the interests of the Croat people in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
The Croatian government is determined to contribute to stability in
Bosnia-Herzegovina because a stable neighbouring country, in which
Croats are one of the three constituent peoples, is of vital
national interest for Croatia. He said Bosnia-Herzegovina was also
interested in such support from Croatia as one of the signatories to
the Dayton agreement.
The Croatian foreign minister believes the return of refugees and
implementation of the Bosnian Constitutional Court's decision on
the quality of being constituent of all three peoples are two
crucial elements on which the further implementation of the Dayton
agreement depends.
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