The leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Covic, has confirmed that his party will support Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in her bid for a second term as President of Croatia.

Speaking in an interview with the Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz of Monday, Covic said that the HDZ BH would support Grabar-Kitarovic in the presidential race. “The HDZ BH will join in the election campaign when it formally begins,” he said.

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have dual Bosnian and Croatian citizenship are entitled to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections in Croatia.

Covic said he hoped the forthcoming Croatian presidency of the European Union would help Bosnia and Herzegovina catch up with other countries in the region in their efforts to join the bloc.

“The Croatian presidency of the Union in the first half of next year gives Bosnia and Herzegovina a chance to catch up with Albania and North Macedonia because we have met all the conditions except forming a government,” Covic said.

Covic said that in negotiations with the predominantly Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) he would continue to insist on amending electoral legislation, suggesting as the best solution the election model used by Belgium.

Covic said that his party supported the country’s NATO membership bid, but added that one should not insist on it the way the SDA did because this was a process that would not be completed in 20 years’ time if it continued at the present pace.