Bosnian Croats 'Undermining State' by Opening Brussels Office

After Dragan Covic, the Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency, announced that Bosnia's Croatian-majority cantons will open a joint representative office in Brussels, critics called the move a step towards the destabilisation, and even the collapse, of the Bosnian state.

"There are already several representative offices from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Brussels, and what is missing is an office that would … represent the areas where Croats live," he said on June 24 announcing the move.

"In line with the constitutions of the cantons, where it is possible to link their joint activities within the competencies that constitutionally belong to them, we have completed the work of preparation, and soon this office will open," Covic added.

According to Covic, the new office representing "the areas where Croats live" will open within the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, CEMR.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a highly decentralised country with two autonomous entities - Republika Srpska, a mainly Serbian entity, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosniaks and Croats are in the majority.

The Federation also consists of ten cantons, all with their own governments.

Zeljko Komsic, the former Croat member of Bosnian Presidency and now leader of the Democratic Front, accused Covic of working in tandem with Milorad Dodik, the RS President, whose separatist ambitions are well known.

"Covic has once again showed that everything he does works in line with Milorad Dodik, his partner in the dismantling of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said.

The RS has had its Representative Office in Brussels for over a decade, but also in seven other countries, including Russia and the United States. A...