MOSTAR, June 25 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Bosnia-Herzegovina has refused an invitation by the Chairman of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, Jozo Krizanovic, to participate in Monday's consultations on the
appointment of the new chairman of the country's Council of Ministers after Bozidar Matic recently resigned the office. A letter sent to Krizanovic by HDZ secretary-general Perica Jurkovic reads that the HDZ expected Matic's resignation as well as that the now former chairman of the Council of Ministers had been elected against the legal and legitimate will of the Croatian people. Matic (a Croat) was appointed this summer under the ethnic quota system by the country's multiparty coalition Alliance for Changes (led by the Social Democratic Party), but the HDZ opposed the appointment saying the office should have been given to an HDZ candidate as the HDZ had won the most votes of the Bosnian Croat elect
MOSTAR, June 25 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of
Bosnia-Herzegovina has refused an invitation by the Chairman of the
Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, Jozo Krizanovic, to participate in
Monday's consultations on the appointment of the new chairman of
the country's Council of Ministers after Bozidar Matic recently
resigned the office.
A letter sent to Krizanovic by HDZ secretary-general Perica
Jurkovic reads that the HDZ expected Matic's resignation as well as
that the now former chairman of the Council of Ministers had been
elected against the legal and legitimate will of the Croatian
people. Matic (a Croat) was appointed this summer under the ethnic
quota system by the country's multiparty coalition Alliance for
Changes (led by the Social Democratic Party), but the HDZ opposed
the appointment saying the office should have been given to an HDZ
candidate as the HDZ had won the most votes of the Bosnian Croat
electorate in last November's parliamentary election.
Following Matic's appointment as chairman of the Council of
Ministers, the HDZ started boycotting the work of state and federal
bodies of authority.
The HDZ, reads the statement, reminds again that overcoming the
current deep political and institutional crisis is possible only if
the electoral will and equality of all of the country's constituent
peoples is consistently respected. The HDZ has suggested a broad
debate about this matter in the House of Representatives of the
country's parliament. If this debate is not opened, we will again
have an illegitimate Council of Ministers which will not be able to
reach a consensus on any serious political issue relevant for
Bosnia and its peoples, which will continue generating new crises
and keep hampering the country's progress toward the Council of
Europe and other Euro-Atlantic associations, reads the letter,
sent to the chairman of the state presidency.
(hina) sb rml