The Croat National Assembly (HNS) in BiH adopted a resolution at its Friday session in Mostar, stating, among other things, that the three constituent peoples in BiH (Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) are a constitutional category and that this fact cannot and must not be politically ignored. The resolution adds that Bosnia is their homeland and a country of equal peoples and citizens.

The resolution added that “in a complex multinational community, which BiH undoubtedly is, stability and progress can only be achieved through agreement and the use of mechanisms that strengthen mutual trust with strict respect for the constitutional order and the rule of law.”

„We, the legitimate political representatives of the Croat people in BiH, express our clear, firm and unequivocal commitment to

– achieving full legal and real constitutionality of Croats in BiH and their equality with Bosniaks and Serbs,

– building and strengthening the institutions of our common state of equal constituent peoples and equal citizens.

Aware of the fact that there are completely different views in BiH on its future, we warn of the danger and perniciousness of policies that:

– deny the constitutional and Dayton principles of constitutionality and mutual equality of the constituent peoples (unitarism),

– deny the independence and integrity of BiH (separatism),” the resolution states among other things.

Unitarian and separatist goals and interests are incompatible and directly opposed to the fundamental Dayton principles and the main cause of BiH's dysfunction and instability, the resolution warned.

According to the HNS the current constitutional, institutional and political situation is unacceptable for Croats in BiH:

– because it denies them the right to legitimate political representation in bodies and institutions intended to represent the constituent peoples.

– because it denies them the rights to cultural, educational and media autonomy even in the degree and form enjoyed by members of national minorities in nation-states.

The HNS also urged the authorities to speed up the election law reform in the country stating that the current law did not provide the certainty that each ethnicity can elect its own political representatives. Therefore, electoral legislation needs to be reformed so that it ensures the right and certainty for each constituent people to freely and independently elect their own political representatives, the resolution added.

According to the HNS, Bosnia’s EU and NATO membership is the country’s most important foreign-policy goal and the main geopolitical determination of the Croat people in BiH.

“The Croat National Assembly strongly advocates the speedy implementation of all necessary reforms on the Euro-Atlantic path, including meeting the conditions for closing the Office of the High Representative (OHR) as one of the preconditions for BiH's sovereignty as an independent, comprehensive, stable and prosperous state and its introduction to full EU membership,” the resolution states, among other things.