Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman was in Berlin on Saturday to attend ceremonies marking 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, saying that the event had set in motion democratic processes in eastern Europe.

“The tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the bipolar system were all fantastic events after which we all found ourselves in a world of joy and happiness because each country began to build democratic standards of living for their citizens, social peace and stability,” Grlic-Radman told Croatian reporters.

“However, the European Union is full of challenges. Maybe all things did not turn out as we had expected, but who would have thought that after the fall of the Berlin Wall Croatia would become independent and that one day it would be chairing the European Union,” he added.

He said that Croatia would continue to help its neighbours on the EU path by sharing its own experience from the process.

Asked to comment on a recent statement by French President Emmanuel Macron on Bosnia and Herzegovina as a “time-bomb that’s ticking right next to Croatia,” Grlic-Radman said: “It is a strongly-worded statement, but Bosnia and Herzegovina certainly is complex. After the war ended with the Dayton agreement, which recognised the equality and sovereignty of the three constituent peoples, not much has actually happened in terms of political progress. What’s more, (some things) have been to the detriment of the Croats who now do not have their own representative.”

“I don’t believe that President Macron wouldn’t want a solution to be found to problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Croatian foreign minister said, adding that Bosnia and Herzegovina deserved a future in the EU as well as greater attention from the international community.

Commenting on President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic’s statement that Yugoslavia had been on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Grlic-Radman said he agreed with the President. “This should not be looked at in black and white. There was NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Croatia was not a member of the Warsaw Pact, but that makes no difference – (Yugoslavia) was undemocratic and communist and was not a guarantor of the equality of all its peoples. It was governed by one people who had a majority in all important pillars of government.”

In the afternoon, the Croatian foreign minister is due to attend a reception given by German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass, and in the evening he will attend the main ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, which will be addressed, among others, by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.