President Milanović after Brdo-Brijuni Summit: Some are bothered by the very mention of equal rights for all constituent peoples in BiH
At the 11th annual Brdo-Brijuni Process Summit held today in Brdo Castle near Kranj, the countries participating in the Process published Conclusions – instead of a Joint Declaration, as previously planned – calling, among other things, for an accelerated European Union integration process and for granting candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the end of 2022.
“We gave up on the declaration. We got the conclusions, which is the lowest common denominator we could agree on,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said after the meeting at a joint press conference with Slovenian President Borut Pahor.
“Just mentioning, even touching on that term – equal rights for all constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina – evidently bothers some. The very mention of that term bothers them,” President Milanović told journalists, explaining why the Joint Declaration was not issued at this year’s Brdo-Brijuni Process Summit. “I was faced with similar problems a year ago at the NATO Summit in Brussels, when I had to fight for days and threaten to block the joint communiqué before a simple mention of the Dayton package, around which everything centres, was included in the final text of the NATO Summit communiqué. A number of states were against it. This just shows you what kind of circumstances we live in and that we have to fight for basic rights. This is now a bilateral matter, that is, a matter for Croatia, not Slovenia, so I would not go into any more detail,” said the Croatian President.
In his opening remarks, President Milanović said he would do everything in his power to continue the meetings of the participants of the Brdo-Brijuni Process, given that Slovenian President Pahor’s second term ends at the end of this year. “Someone new will be elected President of Slovenia and I hope that we will continue in the same rhythm in quite difficult circumstances, because the circumstances are difficult in Europe and among the participants of the initiative. So, I am satisfied with what we have done today,” said President Milanović, thanking Slovenian President Pahor, who, together with the Croatian President, is the co-chair of the Brdo-Brijuni Process meetings.
Asked whether the topic of Serbian indictments against Croatian pilots was raised during the meeting, President Milanović said that he did not and would not discuss the indictments issued against Croatian pilots with Serbian President Vučić. “I will not address that in this way. I said in public what I had to say and I stand by it. That would not be the right approach. And in regard to the conclusions, under one of the points we are talking about established principles and criteria. For us, this topic will certainly be among the criteria in the talks with Serbia. However, it should be emphasized that at the moment the public sentiment in Serbia towards Serbia’s membership in the European Union is extremely negative, that two thirds of Serbs in Serbia are against Serbia’s membership in the European Union. This is a number that every politician must by all means take into account. It is the only country in the region with such a sentiment,” said President Milanović.
When asked by a reporter if there was also mention of Serbia’s recognition of the Republic of Kosovo, President Milanović replied: “There was no mention of that because it would be a path of no return. I think the meeting would have ended before it had started. I publicly call on and encourage those who have not yet done so to recognize Kosovo, but now was not an opportunity for that. However, at this moment it is not realistic for Serbia to recognize Kosovo. I think this is the position of both President Vučić and a large part of the Serbian public. This is reality”, said the Croatian President.
Ahead of the 11th annual Brdo-Brijuni Process Summit at Brdo Castle near Kranj, President Milanović held a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Albania Bajram Begaj.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas