Penava: Revised resolution on Croats in BiH to go before Parliament on Tuesday

Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava has announced that his party's Resolution on the position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be presented to Parliament on Tuesday after being substantially revised during coalition talks with the HDZ.

Unlike Penava's original proposal, the final text was drafted in coordination with the HDZ and drops two of the Homeland Movement's most controversial demands: the creation of a separate Croat electoral unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the possibility of stripping Croatian citizenship from people deemed to be acting against the interests of Croats in the country.

Although the Homeland Movement had previously insisted there were "red lines" it would not cross, several weeks of negotiations with its senior coalition partner resulted in a significantly watered-down resolution.

While the document is unlikely to have any direct impact on the position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Penava said it nevertheless sends an important political message.

"The message it sends is that the Croatian Parliament, the Government, and Croatian institutions are here to support the Croatian people and that they see what is happening," Penava said.

The central issue addressed by the resolution is the long-standing complaint of Bosnian Croats that the country's electoral system allows the more numerous Bosniak electorate to determine the Croat member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite Presidency.

Penava said the revised text explicitly characterises that practice as electoral manipulation.

"The Resolution very clearly states that the outvoting of Croats is a form of electoral engineering, a systematic and deliberate effort with malicious intent," he said.

The proposal for a separate Croat electoral unit—previously the most contentious element of the draft—now appears only as one possible solution that should be carefully considered.

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the resolution next week, on the final day of Parliament's summer session.