- Published: 03.09.2018.
PM Plenkovic met with visiting Finnish FM
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met with Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini in Zagreb on Monday, expressing hope that a decision on Croatia's accession to the Schengen area would be made by the start of 2020, a government statement said.
"Prime Minister Plenkovic said that Croatia could meet the Schengen accession criteria by the end of this year, expressing hope that an EU-level political decision would be made by the start of Croatia's presidency of the Council of the EU" in the first half of 2020, the statement said.
Soini offered his country's assistance and support to Croatia in its bid to join the eurozone and the Schengen area.
PM Plenkovic and Soini expressed their satisfaction with friendly and good political relations between Croatia and Finland and concluded that additional efforts should be made to intensify economic cooperation between the two countries.
They also confirmed good cooperation between the two countries within the European Union.
PM Plenkovic presented the priorities of the Croatian presidency of the EU, and Soini spoke of the main topics and challenges of Finland's EU presidency in 2019.
Also discussed were the situation in Southeast Europe and main challenges facing the EU in the coming period, the statement said.
Text: Hina