A member of parliament, former minister of the interior and leader of the recently established New Politics party, Vlaho Orepić, has said that Croatia’s attitude to Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably the interests of Croats in that country, had to change as it had become evident that the situation could not be changed for the better only through cooperation with the HDZ BiH party.
Orepić, who used to be minister of the interior nominated by the Bridge party, told the Bosnia and Herzegovina new agency Patria on Tuesday that he was concerned about the conduct of HDZ BiH leader Dragan Ćović and described his policy as detrimental to Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Croatia’s interests.
“His policy lacks legality and legitimacy in the Croat electorate in Bosnia and Herzegovina… it is a policy that tries to present, based on the model used by Milorad Dodik, the policy of war booty as a Croatian interest… many in Herzegovina, even successful business people are afraid and depend on his policy. The Croatian government, too, is afraid to rub him the wrong way because he is part of the ruling majority and is using political blackmail in the parliament to secure its support,” said Orepić.
He noted that Ćović’s drawing closer to Bosnian Serb leader Dodik, who, he said, openly questioned Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity and NATO membership bid, was entirely opposed to Croatia’s strategic interests.
“Ćović and his political exhibitionism are the most important reason why relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia are bad,” Orepić said, adding that that policy should be replaced with one based on principles of trust and responsibility and that it could be articulated by other political parties that would represent the interests of all Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including his New Politics party, Hina reports.
