Croatian Declaration on Bosnian Croats' Rights Vexes Sarajevo

The Croatian parliament on Wednesday will discuss a declaration on the rights of Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina which calls for changes to Bosnia's constitution and electoral law which it claims will ensure equality for Croats in the country.

While the document is not binding for Croatia or Bosnia, and the Croatian parliament will vote on it later, it is already being seen in Sarajevo as another attack on Bosnia's sovereignty after the two countries became involved in a previous dispute about the Bosnian general elections in October. 

The declaration claims that the election of Zeljko Komsic as the Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency at October's polls was not in line with the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war because Komsic was elected mostly by Bosniak votes, not by those of Bosnian Croats.

"For the successful functioning of Bosnia at all its levels it is essential that all its constituent peoples [Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs] and citizens be equal, to trust and believe in Bosnia's future," the declaration says.

Bosnian Croat parties claim that under the current rules, Bosniaks can outvote Croats based because they are more numerous, and thus effectively get to elect the Croat member of the presidency, so a new electoral law is needed to address this.

Komsic told media on Sunday that the declaration was an attempt to exert political pressure on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"This, what Croatia is doing to Bosnia, is not good, and such actions undermine mutual trust and goes a long way towards denying the sovereignty of Bosnia," Komsic said.

The main Bosniak party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA also said it saw the declaration as a way of undermining the...