Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic met with EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn in Brussels on Thursday for talks on the Excessive Deficit Procedure which Croatia entered earlier this year.
Milanovic met with Rehn ahead of an EU summit.
The PM said that it would be "too radical, from the social as well as from the economic point of view" if Croatia cut the deficit in the first year to the extent as requested by the European Commission.
"The EC has its position, it works with 28 member countries and must therefore have a tougher stance. But we have our own interests and are working seriously. The correction of 2.3% of GDP in the first year, as requested by the EC, is huge. As I have already said, we can bite the bullet, but not the whole cartridge-belt," Milanovic told the press.
Asked why the EC should treat Croatia more leniently, Milanovic said Croatia joined the EU at the most inconvenient time, with huge insolvency and expenses related to its EU accession.
"The time and the circumstances of our EU accession, the costs that we had were huge. For example, the Czech Republic received one billion euros for solvency and Croatia got 70 million. All of that should be taken into account," said Milanovic.
He said that his statement that Croatia would not be Greece was not a criticism of Greece but of the way the country had been treated by the EU.
"I believe that Greeks themselves are hugely dissatisfied with the way they have been treated. It was not a criticism of Greece, but a comment on a series of measures Greece has been subjected to, maybe a little too much, which has had dire consequences for the movement of its GDP."
(Hina)
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