ZAGREB, 22 Nov (Hina) – Croatia and its diplomacy have helped Bosnia and Herzegovina a lot on its path to European Union membership, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, said in an interview with the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily published on Friday.

Konaković said that the attitude of Croatia’s state leadership towards Bosnia and Herzegovina is fair despite the outstanding issues, adding that he is pleased with the way in which Croatia supports his country’s European path.

“I have said everything I had to say to the Croatian authorities, leadership and people about the glorification of war crimes, about our property that needs to be returned to us, about the borders that we have not yet defined and the problems with the sea that we need to solve, but at the same time I can see that Croatian diplomacy has done a lot for Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of European integration,” said Konaković, who is also the leader of the People and Justice party, a member of the ruling coalition.

He says that the coalition is now functioning much better than before, when relations between the parties were burdened by numerous conflicts, which is why the country’s European path has also suffered. Bosnia and Herzegovina has made no progress since March, when the European Council approved the opening of accession negotiations.

This week, the leaders of the parties agreed on the urgent adoption of two laws that are among the prerequisites for the formal opening of EU accession negotiations, which they expect could follow in March next year.

The European Commission has given Bosnia and Herzegovina a new deadline of 4 December to submit an agreed reform program, which, if given the green light in Brussels, would also mean access to a €6 billion fund intended for projects through the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region that has not yet submitted its reform program.