Neum, 17 March 2017- Croatian representative of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament Željana Zovko participated in the interdisciplinary conference “Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Holders of European Values?“, organised by the Cabinet of the Croat member of the BiH Presidency Dragan Čović. The conference gathered the university professors, public life participants, cultural workers and other experts who presented their vision of the BiH future and position of the Croat nation in BiH. The Croat member of the BiH Presidency Dragan Čović, President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Davor Ivo Stier and Heads of Universities of Mostar, Split and Zagreb addressed the Conference.
The MEP Zovko stressed that the Croats’ status of a constitutive nation in BiH was not confined to ethnic rights only, but entitled Croats also to rights of a multi-ethnic community oriented to Croat language, culture and historical heritage.
“Our status of a constitutive nation is about much more than ethnic rights only. It is a higher standard and obligation indeed.“, as of Zovko.
According to the conclusions made at the Neum Conference, the BiH Croats have been traditionally supporting the European values, having a fully developed identity with all its components based entirely on European values. Stability, sustainability and further development of BiH are directly connected with the progress BiH makes on its path to European integrations. Constitutivity as basic determinant of the country of BiH, which is as such verified also by the BiH Constitution, is not opposed to political values of contemporary Europe.