Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, welcomed the decision to grant EU membership candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the agreement by political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to form the government.

“The European Council granted candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina more than six and a half years after it applied for membership,” Plenkovic told reporters on Thursday evening.

He said that Croatia has consistently supported Bosnia and Herzegovina on the EU path, and that he is glad that the European Council’s decision coincided with the agreement by political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to form the government at the state level.

The leaders of  the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats signed a document in Sarajevo on Thursday undertaking to form a new government based on the outcome of the 2 October general election.

“This shows that the situation after this election is substantially different than four years ago. Such functionality and reform ambitions will enable Bosnia and Herzegovina to make faster progress towards the European Union, and Croatia will continue to support it in that regard,” Plenkovic said.

He said that this decision is a signal to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina that the EU’s door is open and an encouragement to the country’s institutions and political parties to carry out the necessary reforms.

Responding to questions from the press, Plenkovic commented on the demand by President Zoran Milanovic that Ukraine and Moldova should be granted candidate status only on the condition that Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted such status as well.

“There was no way we were going to veto candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova and conditional candidate status for Georgia. Thanks to Croatia’s intervention in the European Council’s conclusions in June, a paragraph on Bosnia and Herzegovina was included, which made it possible for the Commission to come out with a positive report and for today’s decision to be made,” the prime minister said.

Plenkovic reiterated that this year was “a year of delivery” for Croatia, citing all major achievements such as accession to the euro zone and Schengen area, the decision international High Representative Christian Schmidt made on election day in Bosnia and Herzegovina, candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the double taxation agreement with the United States and Croatia’s membership in the American visa waiver program.

“This is a year that we will remember for a long time. All my colleagues here see that, and offer congratulations,” Plenkovic said.