New Croatian PM Plenkovic arrives in Brussels for EU summit

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic arrived in Brussels on Thursday for his first attendance at a European Union summit meeting in his role as Croatian premier. The summit will focus on migrations, the EU's relations with Russia, and trade policy.

Before the start of the summit, Plenkovic, who is the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader, attended a summit of the European People's Party (EPP) in Maastricht, the Netherlands, which was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty.

This treaty, formally known as the Treaty on European Union or TEU and undertaken to integrate Europe, was signed by the members of the European Community in Maastricht on 7 February 1992. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city had hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty.

Upon his arrival in Brussels, Plenkovic said that this was the first time he was attending a European Council meeting as prime minister.

"I will greet my new colleagues after I have already today seen the European Council President, Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other counterparts from the party family (EPP). This morning we have marked the 25th anniversary of one of the fundamental treaties of the EU at the EPP summit," Plenkovic said.

During the EPP summit, Plenkovic met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for talks on solutions to offset the consequences of the recent negative referendum in the Netherlands on the EU association agreement with Ukraine and on permanent visa liberalisation for Ukrainians.

Concerning the first topic, Plenkovic advocates "a political solution acceptable at the European Council level."

As for the visa liberalisation, Plenkovic recalled that eight months ago the European Commission had given a go-ahead for lifting visas, and the European Parliament also gave a positive opinion, while now it was up to the Council to take a position.

Plenkovic was the chair of the European Parliament's Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee before he became the Croatian PM.

Text: Hina
Photo: Council of the European Union

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