Croatian President threatens to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO unless Bosnian electoral law is reformed
Every potential application from Finland to join NATO must be ratified by all 30 member states, but the Croatian parliament – not the president – will make that decision.
President of Croatia Zoran Milanović has called on its country’s parliament to vote against Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Croatian television has reported.
If the two Nordic nations decide to apply for membership in the alliance, their applications must be ratified by all 30 current member states. Croatia has been a member of NATO since 2009.
Milanović stated that Croatia’s approval of any Finnish and Swedish application may depend on the reform of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s electoral law.
In a complex political system created after the end of the war in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two main administrative units representing the three main ethnic groups – the Serbian-dominated unit Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat majority federation in BiH.
The country’s largest Croatian party, HDZ, has demanded reforms that would give Bosnia’s Croats more power – calls backed by Milanović and the Croatian government.
In an interview with Index.hr (siirryt toiseen palveluun)Milanović stated that “the Croatian Parliament may not ratify any country’s NATO membership until the electoral law of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been changed”.
He added, however, that the decision on whether Finland or Sweden should join NATO is not in his hands, as it will be made by the Croatian Parliament.
He also said he regretted the fact that Croatia had to intervene in NATO’s application of a country “as exemplary as Finland”.