- Published: 26.06.2019.
Structural reforms and good macroeconomic trends countinue
Croatia has done a good job regarding the candidacy of its Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of 324 representatives of the national parliaments of 47 member states, will elect a new Secretary General to a term of five years by secret ballot on Wednesday evening. They will choose between Pejcinovic Buric and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to succeed Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Parliament Speaker of Norway.
"We've done a good job regarding the campaign", Plenkovic told the public broadcaster HRT on Wednesday morning. "It is very uncertain. I think we did all we could and already now we got an important plus and respect for both the country and our candidate," he added.
He said that Croatia had made a good impression during its six-month chairmanship of this organisation last year. "I think we earned the image of a country that can make a contribution."
The results of the vote are expected around 9pm.
If elected, Pejcinovic Buric would be the second woman in history at the organisation's helm and the first person from Central and Southeastern Europe to fill this position, Plenkovic said.
Plenkovic doesn't rule out possibility of Croatian officials being included among EC candidates
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of Croatian officials being included among candidates for European Commission leadership, noting that so far they had not been considered as candidates.
Last week the Belgian daily Le Soir said that Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was being mentioned among candidates for the next EC chief, and commenting on the article Plenkovic said that there was a lot of speculation in the European media which was "far from what is actually being discussed at the table."
Speaking in an interview with Croatian Radio on Wednesday morning, Plenkovic said that he and Grabar-Kitarovic "were not candidates" for the post. "But considering how things are developing, you never know what will happen," he added.
He said that Croatia as the newest member of the European Union should be pleased with the fact that its political leadership was being mentioned in the context of choosing leaders for European institutions.
"This is almost incredible. We will soon mark only six years of EU membership and we are in a position that Croatia's key people are included in combinations for these posts," Plenkovic said.
Speaking of negotiations on the new leadership of the European institutions, Plenkovic said that no agreement had been reached yet, adding that the incumbent European Council President Donald Tusk had said that none of the candidates of the three parliamentary groupings - the European People's Party, Social Democrats and Liberals, was able to obtain the necessary majority to be nominated as Commission President.
Plenkovic said that during the negotiations it was pointed out that it would be good to avoid a negative vote on the candidates because it would not be conducive to a favourable atmosphere and would have huge political consequences.
He dismissed the claim that an agreement on the new Commission President would be reached at the forthcoming G20 summit in Japan.
"An agreement, if any, will be reached in Brussels on Sunday or Monday" during the next EU summit, Plenkovic said. "The idea is to reach an agreement before the new European Parliament holds its first session. It is scheduled for July 1 in Strasbourg, while the new President should be elected on July 2," he said, adding that "everything is open."
"Any additional speculation at this point would not be good," Plenkovic said.
Croatia to send in letter of intent for eurozone entry next week
Next week Croatia will send a letter to Brussels expressing its intent to join the eurozone, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced in an interview with Croatian Radio on Wednesday morning.
Plenkovic had held several meetings on the margins of a recent EU summit as part of the preparation of the Croatian strategy for the adoption of the European single currency, the euro. He met with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, European Commission Vice-President for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis, Eurogroup President Mario Centeno and President of the Eurogroup Working Group Hans Vijlbrief.
"All four men are key for the acceptance of our letter. We are taking the first step to become what is called European Exchange Rate Mechanism II. I think we did very good consultations with both the Central Bank and the Commission, specifying several reform areas on which we will be working over the next year," Plenkovic said.
He said that the letter of intent would be sent in the middle of next week.
Asked if there was room for further tax cuts, Plenkovic said that all macroeconomic trends were excellent. "We are dealing with the remaining skeletons from the closet of the Croatian economic transition," he said, citing problems concerning the Agrokor food conglomerate, the Petrokemija fertiliser manufacturing company and the shipbuilding industry.
The PM recalled that in the last three rounds of tax cuts the tax burden had been reduced by HRK 6.5 billion plus HRK 2 billion in administrative cuts, noting that this reflected on investment and wages. He said that in last December alone 450,000 people had received higher wages, or HRK 1.5 billion in total.
"We will continue down this path. There is a task force, the Finance Ministry is in charge. They are doing analyses and wherever there may be room we will pursue further cuts because we think that is good," Plenkovic said.
He said that the fourth round of tax cuts would begin as of January 1, recalling that the general VAT rate would be reduced by one percentage point.
Text: Hina