Croatia's War Veterans Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Friday that Zagreb would ask the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina to clarify its position on the matter.
The government is more than surprised by the House of Peoples' decision to reject the agreement, given that the agreement was harmonised and backed by both governments. Nothing was contentious then, Kosor told reporters.
The bilateral treaty regulating Croatia's financial assistance to Bosnian Croat war veterans and their families was signed by the two governments in late 2005.
The intention was to make it possible for Zagreb to provide assistance to former HVO members whose pensions, allocated from the Muslim-Croat entity's budget, were slashed at the beginning of this year.
Under the agreement, which the Croatian parliament ratified in late January, Croatia is to allocate 40 million kuna (approx. 5.5 million euros) this year to provide assistance to about 800 families of missing Bosnian Croat soldiers, while in 2007 the aid will be augmented so as to cover 1,100 disabled war veterans and 2,500 beneficiaries in 2008.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Bosnian parliament, endorsed the document too. However, the club of deputies representing the Bosniak (Muslim) people in the House of Peoples blocked its ratification today, claiming that the agreement ran counter to Bosniaks' vital interests.
They also criticised the agreement saying that it covered only Bosnian Croats who fought as HVO members and who have Croatian citizenship, but left out Bosnian Croats who were deployed in other units.
Under the rules of procedure of the upper house, a special commission should settle the matter within the next five days or the agreement will be sent to the Bosnian Constitutional Court for a final binding ruling.