Plenkovic: Dodik's Status Improved Since Losing Power
In Mostar, Croatia's prime minister addressed possible EU sanctions against Dodik over glorifying Mladic and said Bosnia's election law reform must wait until after the October 4 vote.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Mostar on September 1 that Milorad Dodik has enjoyed a better standing in the international community since leaving office than he did before. He was responding to a reporter’s question on whether Croatia would push for the European Union to sanction Dodik over his glorification of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic. The remark came a month before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election, set for October 4, 2026, and it also touches directly on Serbia: the Hague tribunal’s conviction of Mladic for wartime crimes in Bosnia remains one of the most sensitive issues in the region every time someone publicly praises his name.
Plenkovic made the comment in Potoci, near Mostar, where he attended the signing of contracts supporting projects for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The contracts signed there are worth nearly 36 million euros, slightly less than the 37 million euros signed for the same purpose in Orasje at the end of July. Among the beneficiaries are the University of Mostar, the only higher education institution outside Croatia that teaches in Croatian, the University Clinical Hospital in Mostar, which employs about 3,000 people, and the Croatian National Theatre, still under construction, which Plenkovic expects to be completed within the next two years.
The prime minister was accompanied on the trip by Minister of Construction Branko Bacic, Minister of Regional Development Natasa Mikus Zigman, Minister of Tourism Tonci Glavina, Minister of Labor Alen Ruzic, and State Secretary Zvonko Milas.
What Did Plenkovic Say About Dodik?
Asked about possible sanctions against Dodik, Plenkovic neither confirmed nor ruled out such a push, but his message was clear: the current political climate is moving in the opposite direction from what a sanction would require.
“Our impression, following international developments, is that since he left office, Dodik has had a better status in the international community than before,” Plenkovic told reporters in Potoci.
With that, the Croatian prime minister signaled that he currently sees no support within the European Union for formally sanctioning Dodik over his statements about Mladic.
Election Law and the Croat Vote in Bosnia
The second part of the press conference was devoted to amending Bosnia and Herzegovina’s election law, a topic Croatian politics in Bosnia raises ahead of every general election. Plenkovic said it was a shame that limited changes to the constitutional law, which would have ensured that the Croat member of the presidency is elected by voters who are themselves Croats, were not made before the last election. He argued that the current electoral practice serves neither institutional trust nor the functioning of the country’s institutions.
At the same time, he made clear that changing the law a month before voting is not realistic.
“We have too much experience to expect that something will change now, a month before the elections. I don’t think anyone has such illusions,” Plenkovic said, adding that the process of amending the law should nonetheless continue and be completed after the election.
He also stressed that Croatia views its support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European path as a lasting commitment, and that he expects the pace of accession to pick up after the October election.
Bosnia and Herzegovina holds its general election on October 4, 2026, and Zagreb continues to openly advocate changing the election rules in a way that, in Croatia’s view, would secure legitimate representation for all three constituent peoples, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, in the country’s joint institutions. Belgrade is watching the issue closely, since any change to how the Croat member of the presidency is elected also affects the logic behind how Bosnia elects its Serb representative. The message about Dodik, paired with the announcement that election law reform will not return to the agenda until after the vote, leaves open the question of how officials in Banja Luka and Sarajevo will respond on both fronts in the coming weeks, as the region braces for an election that will directly shape the balance of power on Serbia’s doorstep.
