Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that the nomination of Dubravka Suica, for the European Commission's Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, which he described as a very important portfolio, is recognition of Croatia's strength in the EU.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that the nomination of Dubravka Suica, for the European Commission's Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, which he described as a very important portfolio, is recognition of Croatia's strength in the EU.
Croatia's candidate for a European commissioner, Dubravka Suica, has been nominated Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, European Commission President-Elect Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday.
Suica will be one of four vice-presidents in the European Commission.
Addressing a press conference in Government House after the announcement, Plenkovic said that this is an exceptionally significant department in the Commission.
"It will deal with existential topics for a series of member states," said Plenkovic.
He underscored that this was confirmation of Croatia's strength and is the result of the talks with EC President Ursula von der Leyen.
Plenkovic says female Croatian politicians step into important offices in Europe
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday that this year, Croatia had nominated its female politicians to take over several offices in Europe important for the development of democracy.
Plenkovic made the statement after incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her picks for the next European Commission, which includes Croatia's Dubravka Suica who has been nominated for the Commission's Vice President for Democracy and Demography. Suica was also chosen by von der Leyen to lead the team in charge of a two-year Conference on the Future of Europe.
In June this year, former Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejcinovic-Buric was elected the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, thus being the second female secretary-general of this organisation established 70 years ago. Pejcinovic Buric steps into this office on 18 September.
Plenkovic recalled other appointments of Croatian representatives in Europe
In mid-April the European Parliament endorsed the appointment of Croatian candidate Ivana Maletic to the European Court of Auditors.
In January, a former state secretary at the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Maja Markovcic Kostelac was selected for the job of Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), thus becoming the first Croatian official at the helm of this organisation which was established in 2002 after a maritime accident of the Prestige tanker which caused massive pollution off Spain's northern coast.
Plenkovic says all about Helsinki trip spelled out to Commission
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday said that he would not submit any more documents to the Conflict of Interest Commission regarding a visit to Helsinki because the government had sent everything it had been requested.
I won't submit anything else. We spelled everything out for them. That is why we gave it to you to point out the absurdity of the commission's request," Plenkovic told a press conference in Government House when asked about travel allowance documents for the trip to Helsinki that are being requested by the commission.
He added that there is no suspicion of conflict of interest in that situation because he went to Finland in his capacity as prime minister to meet with Finland's prime minister who was not connected with the European People's Party (EPP).
Plenkovic denied allegations that that meeting was held in a "small room on the margins of the EPP" convention and said that the meeting was held in Finland's government house.
"After that the EPP convention was held with one part that afternoon and the next part the following morning and I addressed the convention in my capacity as the prime minister of Croatia and not as a delegate and in that part where people like Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk speak, in that part that the heads of state address," Plenkovic underlined.
He explained that the government had "literally spelled it all out and explained it," to the Conflict of Interest Commission.
"However, if the people in the commission, most of whom are jurists, do not understand, do not realise, do not have experience or are acting under media pressure to keep something current in the news, is there anything odd there? No there isn't anything. We said that the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) would pay for the hotel and daily allowances and that's how it is " he added, explaining that the problem would have arisen, if double daily allowances had been charged, but it was not the case.
"The commission is not a court, it is not a judicial institution, it is not the police and it is not the State Prosecutor," and the commission should be dealing with conflict of interest and within the remit of the law and not "what it thinks the media expects and what they think they should be doing," said Plenkovic.
Text: Hina