Croatia represents an international gateway to Central Europe

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković participated in the 12th EU MED-9 Summit in Portorož. The meeting was hosted by Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, and together with the leaders of the nine Mediterranean and southern EU member states and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, key global and security issues were discussed. "This was truly an opportunity to deepen the cooperation of the nine EU member states bordering the Mediterranean Sea, not only in terms of key political issues, which is now particularly security and President Trump's plan for peace in Gaza, but also other elements that are also part of Croatia's preparations for the presidency of this initiative," said Plenković.

He thanked Slovenian Prime Minister Golob for his hospitality and excellent organization of the meeting, and congratulated Slovenia on its work over the past year.

"Croatia is honored to take over the presidency of this initiative for the first time," he said.

During its presidency, Croatia, together with the recent Pact for the Mediterranean presented by Dubravka Šuica, Member of the European Commission responsible for Mediterranean and demographic policy, will send a message that cooperation can be improved, especially in such turbulent times as the last 15 years, which have significantly slowed down cooperation between the northern, eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean.

Education, science, culture and university cooperation

During 2026, we will also focus on cooperation between residents - through education, science, culture and university cooperation, but also in the areas of energy connectivity, preventing illegal migration, and generally economic exchange and global security, he continued.

"We will strive to make our message, that Croatia represents an international gateway to Central Europe, come to life as much as possible in our ambitions, to send messages of security, sustainability and resilience to all Mediterranean countries," said Plenković.

He emphasized that next year Croatia will also chair the Three Seas Initiative, which brings together countries with access to the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas.

"Next year, we will focus on our Mediterranean, Adriatic and thus Central European orientation," said the Prime Minister.

A solution that guarantees security for Israel and a state for the Palestinians

As for the key topics of today's meeting - they discussed President Trump's plan for peace in Gaza, which sent an encouraging message a few days ago.

"We need to try to secure a mandate from the Security Council for international stabilization forces that could maintain peace and lead to a more comprehensive solution”, continued the Prime Minister.
 
He said that Croatia's position is known - a comprehensive solution should guarantee security to Israel and state to the Palestinians.

"In this context, the help of the European Mediterranean countries, the Arab countries, the great powers, the countries from the Gulf, is absolutely necessary to maintain peace," Plenković assessed.

Croatia opposes any solution that would reward Russia with territory

Croatia welcomes the announced talks between the US and Russian presidents on the topic of peace in Ukraine, but opposes any solution that would reward Russia with territory, said Prime Minister Plenković.

Our position is clear: you cannot talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, said Plenković, adding that all attempts that should lead to peace are welcome.

But it would not be good if the consequences of such a peace violated the fundamental norms of international law, primarily the territorial integrity of Ukraine, he said.

"If Russia is allowed to conquer another country's territory after such aggression, then in a few years we can all just guess together which country is next," warned the Prime Minister.

That would also be bad for all those who lost their lives in the last three years of Russian aggression, the collapsed civilian and energy infrastructure, five million refugees and enormous war damage, he concluded.

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