Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman informed his European counterparts on Thursday about recent elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and called for changing its election law as soon as possible.

He took part in a EU Council of Ministers conference via video link.

Speaking to the press, Grlic Radman said it was very important to him to inform the ministers about the November 15 local elections and to underline the importance of elections in Mostar due on December 20 in line with an agreement of political leaders in BiH.

That agreement envisages changing the election law.

“I reiterated that it’s important to look to the future and the 2022 parliamentary election, and that it’s important to embark on changing the election law as soon as possible to achieve functioning and political stability in BiH.”

Grlic Radman told the ministers the EU should pay more attention to the situation in BiH and that due to its complexity, the approach should be adjusted and all its specificities taken into consideration.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced at the conference that he will visit BiH on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Dayton agreement and said that he shares the concern over the situation in BiH, said Grlic Radman.

He reminded the ministers that the 29th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar was observed yesterday.

The main topic at the conference was multilateralism and in that context he said that Vukovar and Srebrenica were reminders “of how fast big tragedies can happen when multilateralism and international law give in to the logic of one-sided voluntarism and brute force.”

Revitalisation of multilateralism

The ministers talked about ways to revitalise the multilateral system which, Grlic Radman said, “has been in crisis for some time.”

“Concrete ideas and steps are necessary so that we strengthen the EU’s role and influence in the multilateral system,” he added.

The conference also addressed the US election and the ministers agreed that, after the final results are made public and a new secretary of state is appointed, they would be invited to one of the Council meetings.

At the conference, the ministers talked with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki about relations between the two sides and reviving the Middle East peace process. Grlic Radman said the EU ministers were united in their stand on the Middle East.