Zeljko Komsic, the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Monday criticised views on the establishment of a new government in Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed recently by Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, saying that they would not do good to anyone, including the Croat people in the country.
"I believe that it is a wrong way," Komsic said in the political talk show "60 minutes" broadcast by the television network of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FTV).
Speaking in the show, which has been openly supporting for months the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP) and its leader Zlatko Lagumdzija, Komsic said that obviously there had been "a change of direction" considering Josipovic's previous statements in which he refrained from openly supporting any of the political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"This is not about lack of information or about a feeling of sudden affection on President Josipovic's part to the two Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) parties... but about a very pragmatic interest of the authorities in Zagreb regarding developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Komsic.
He said that he was referring primarily to the fact that elections in Croatia were getting closer and that "there is a wish to eliminate the dominance of the HDZ in Croatia over the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is, in my opinion, one of the reasons for such a position," Komsic said.
He went on to say that another reason for such a position was Josipovic's wish not to "have the issue of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina transferred to Croatia."
Komsic said that suggestions about the territorial reorganisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the establishment of new entities were entirely unrealistic, adding that none of the peoples in the country would be able to get the consent of the other two peoples for that. This, he said, would only cause more confusion among the Croat people.
Komsic said that Croatia had problems in relations with the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina because it no longer had the money to care for them as in previous years. On the other hand, Croatia will be faced with the EU's request to change its relationship with Bosnian Croats who also have Croatian citizenship, he said.
He concluded that it was to be expected that Croatia would eventually treat Croats in Bosnia as it was treating Croats living in Serbia or Montenegro.
Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on January 12 published a joint statement on Croatia's support to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Euro-Atlantic path, reiterating their support for the country's integrity and calling for the formation of a government whose make-up "will reflect the political will of the constituent peoples and citizens expressed at the (October 2010) elections."
