Croatia is a true advocate of Bulgaria's Schengen membership and a partner ready to help with its own experience, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said in Sofia on Monday after a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart at which the importance of the EU integration of the Western Balkans was underlined.

When Bulgaria joins the Schengen Area, it will have a “true advocate” in Croatia, which joined on 1 January this year, he said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel.

The two countries are linked by centuries-long and exceptionally friendly ties, and Croatia will be a “true partner” helping with its own experience once Sofia joins the European area of passport-free travel.

The two countries share the goal of joining the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and will support each other in the process, said Grlic-Radman.

The two ministers were agreed that everything should be done so that EU membership kept the level of attractiveness necessary as an incentive for the many reforms Western Balkan countries must carry out, he said. “We must keep the Western Balkan region on the EU’s radar.”

All the states in the region must have a prospect of EU membership but one must insist on meeting the criteria and principles, he added.

Grlic-Radman said he hoped that Bosnia and Herzegovina would open negotiations with Brussels at the end of this year or the beginning of 2024. “We expect all relevant political actors to step up BiH’s European path by the end of the year. The continuation of Euro-Atlantic integration is key for a stable and functional BiH.”

The EU path of North Macedonia, which has candidate status, is hampered by Sofia’s demand that Skopje change the constitution and recognise Bulgarians as an ethnic minority.

“We are confident that changing North Macedonia’s constitution must enable the opening of further negotiations with the EU,” said Grlic-Radman.

Later today, he said, he and Gabriel will deliver textbooks for 120 primary school pupils learning the Croatian language.