ZAGREB, CROATIA - Croatia will become a member of the EU and the momentary standstill on that path will represent only a postponement, not the impossibility of achieving that final goal, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in Sarajevo on Friday. 

Mesic, who is on a two-day unofficial visit to Bosnia, held a lecture at the Sarajevo faculty of Political Sciences when he stressed that both Croatia and Bosnia have a place in the EU and will get there eventually.

- Croatia is in a momentary standstill in negotiations and it is possible that we do not end them in within a realistic deadline which we counted on. But that could only mean a postponement. Nothing has changed in achieving the final goal. We will enter the European Union – Mesic said.

‘We have to wait for a change in decision-making’

Mesic warned that Croatia has in the past several weeks felt all the imperfection of the decision-making model within the EU. The Croatian president described the model as “absurd”.

- Our northern neighbour (Slovenia) hoped to get a solution to some open bilateral issues if it directly ties it to our accession negotiations, so it blocked them, giving out a clear message that the blockade will cease only when the contentious issues are solved, and not anyhow, but the way Slovenia wants them solved – Mesic explained.

He added that in this situation, the EU was ready only to say that it is not right what Slovenia was doing, but that the EU can do nothing about that because it works on the principle of always agreeing with a member country.

- Now we have to wait for the ratifications of the Lisbon Treaty and a change in decision-making – the president said.

‘Croatia is prepared to help all countries on their path towards the EU’ 

Mesic said that for the first time in its history, Europe is unifying responsibly and on the basis of a

- This is why this project will succeed – Mesic said.

Commenting on Bosnia’s relations towards European associations, Mesic said that was the right path for the country because joining the EU will help Bosnia stabilise. He also said that Croatia was prepared to help every country that wishes to enter the EU with its experience because he considers this mutual interest.

Mesic concluded that Bosnia should secure its permanent security with a new constitution. This document would guarantee the constitutive peoples of Bosnia to feel equal.