- Published: 14.12.2017.
PM Plenkovic: Croatia is among the 25 EU member states that want more security and defense cooperation
At their last summit this year, the heads of EU member states will discuss Brexit, migrations, the defence policy and a euro area reform.
"What is especially important for us, within the context of the strategy we presented a few weeks ago together with the HNB (Croatian National Bank), is that tomorrow I will attend a euro area summit as prime minister for the first time," Plenkovic told Croatian reporters, saying it would be an opportunity to present Croatia's strategy for introducing the euro, which includes a broad public debate and meeting the Maastricht euro area membership criteria.
One of the topics of the two-day EU summit, the biggest stumbling block among the member states, is migrations and the asylum policy.
"For Croatia, the European principle of solidarity is key. It is the foundation of the whole European project and it must also cover the important subject of migrations," Plenkovic said, adding that there were two schools of thought on how to approach the issue, one focusing on how to manage migrations better, making them sustainable and legal under international and European regulations, the other on how to entirely stop them.
"In any case, Croatia is meeting its commitments concerning refugee relocation and resettlement," he said, adding that in that context, it was important to continue meeting the Schengen Area entry requirements.
PM Plenkovic said he was pleased with yesterday's debate in the European Parliament on Schengen enlargement, adding that Croatia aimed to enter the Area in 2019, before presiding over the EU in the first half of 2020.
Today, the EU summit will observe the establishment of Permanent Structured Cooperation, a new European defence pillar and a key step towards a defence union in which 25 member states are participating. Cooperation will begin with 17 projects, including the establishment of a European Medical Command, logistics hubs, a Training Mission Competence Centre, and the development of common standards for military radio communication.
Croatia is participating in five projects. "In the first stage, we want to focus on natural disaster relief, deployable forces, military mobility, cyber security," said Plenkovic.
Text: Hina