EP President tells PM that EU supports Croatia

Croatia can count on an excessively important friend in Brussels and the European Parliament, who is on Croatia's side, President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, in Zagreb on Friday.

Tajani, who like Plenkovic belongs to the European People's Party, expressed his satisfaction that his former colleague in the European Parliament is the prime minister of a country that is important for stability in the entire region and congratulated him on Croatia's accelerated economic growth.

"The European Union will stand firmly with Croatia, primarily with regard to economic growth but also to reduce youth unemployment," the EP official said.

He highlighted that Croatia's stability is exceptionally important within the framework of the EU because populism must not be allowed to destabilise Southeast Europe and the entire European area.

"I am convinced that Croatia’s accession to the European Union is a resounding success. Single market membership and EU funding have helped to contribute to the country’s increasing growth in recent years. Croatia has left the crisis in its wake and employment is growing. The country’s stability is essential so that - also due to Brexit - it can make its voice heard more in Europe. Croatia has a key role in promoting stability and peace in the Balkans. This is one of the reasons why the European Union needs Croatia to be a strong model for integration and development in the region," Tajani said.

He undertook to advocate that the period before Croatia enters the Schengen Area be as short as possible and underscored that Prime Minister Plenkovic has shown great openness and readiness for dialogue with minorities in Croatia.

That is exceptionally important for the European Parliament which protects all minorities and in that regard, I can say that Croatia has made real progress and that it is a leader in protecting minorities, Tajani said and added that this had been confirmed earlier in the day by the chairman of the parliamentary committee for human and national minority rights, Furio Radin.

Plenkovic pointed out that together with Tajani they discussed several essential themes on the agenda in European institutions such as strengthening internal and external security and preventing terrorist attacks as well as fundamental social and economic issues, like strengthening democratically legitimate institutions.

Because of the "encouraging indicators," that Croatia has at the moment with regard to economic growth and stabilising the financial system, Plenkovic said that he was convinced that next week the European Commission will make a recommendation to the European Council for Croatia to exit the Excessive Deficit Procedure in mid-June.

"With that, our international rating, with regard to more favourable interest rates and coming out on international markets, will assume a completely new dimension," Plenkovic said.

The two officials talked about EU enlargement in Southeast Europe and support for neighbouring countries in continuing reforms on the path to EU membership.

Text: Hina

News