- Published: 12.11.2019.
"A Europe that protects its citizens" conference held in Split
A conference, entitled "A Europe that protects its citizens" and focusing on the third pillar of priorities of Croatia's presidency of the European Union, started in Split on Tuesday.
Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic said that EU presidency was a historic opportunity for Croatia as the youngest EU member, to be chairing the EU in the first six months of 2020.
".. I'm confident that Croatia will show its leadership with regard to European policies but (the presidency) is important also because of our own interests. We also consider it important for our citizens to obtain a more complete picture of the advantages of EU membership," said Bozinovic.
Today's conference in Split takes place after the first two conferences on Croatia's EU presidency were held in Zagreb and Rijeka, focusing on a Europe that connects. Two more conferences will be held, in Osijek and Varazdin.
Bozinovic: Security today more important than ever before
Bozinovic said the topic of security was more important today than it had ever been before and that there were many challenges as well as opportunities in that regard.
"I'm confident that we will prove to be a very good EU chair and that we will secure benefits for all Croatian people," he said.
Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic said that the Croatian judiciary would have a programme for Croatia's EU presidency, adding that strategic guidelines for freedom, security and justice would be adopted for the next five years during Croatia's EU presidency.
The strategic guidelines are a global document that outline some of our goals to be defined in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, he said.
"There are also legislative processes involved which are already underway and we expect that during our presidency not only a general approach but trialogue could be achieved," he said in reference to dialogue and harmonisation of positions between the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
Bosnjakovic said this referred to three regulations regarding civil law, two regulations regarding criminal law and further work on an agreement between the EU and the USA regarding e-evidence and the exchange of electronic data.
The minister added that there was a lot of work to be done in the first half of next year, and that the dynamic would depend on what would be done by the end of the year during Finland's EU presidency.
He concluded by saying that Croatia was ready for its EU presidency.
Croatian Firefighters Association president and HDZ party political secretary Ante Sanader said that for Croatian firefighters citizens' security was a particularly important component of Croatia's EU presidency.
He said that the association was working on the establishment of a EUR 15 million firefighter training centre in Vucevica, in Split-Dalmatia County, which would be the main training centre for firefighters in this part of Europe.
Text: Hina