Plenković calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina to speed up reforms

After Thursday's cabinet session the Croatian Prime Minister travelled to Sarajevo for a working visit to neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. During his stay the prime minister urged Bosnian authorities to accelerate their efforts to meet EU membership criteria.

Upon his arrival in Sarajevo Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met with the Chairperson of the Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto. For his part Plenković said that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to intensify its efforts as soon as possible in order to fulfill all of the guidelines it received as an EU candidate country, so that it can continue on its path towards membership of the European Union: “Bosnia and Herzegovina's efforts to ensure that last year's achieving of candidate status and the established eight plus one criteria, which deals with constitutional election reforms and the earlier fourteen criteria, must serve as guidelines on the path of reform. And that is why today I want to encourage both the council of ministers and both houses of the parliamentary assembly, to make the effort to adopt those laws that have been widely accepted as goals for the past year.”

Chairperson Krišto agreed that major reforms need to be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina: “We have to make a huge step forward when it comes to reforming the election legislative framework. We have to change the election law. We have to implement decisions, especially those of the Constitutional Court with regard to the legitimate representation of all three constituent peoples in administrative political levels that deal with protecting collective rights. We also have to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.”

Source: HRT