ZAGREB, September 4, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković 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 Plenković 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.
Plenković 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.
Plenković 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.
Croatia can rely on Finland's support on its path toward membership of the Schengen Area and eurozone, Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini told a press conference on Monday after meeting in Zagreb with Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić for talks on cooperation between these two countries during their chairmanship of European institutions.
Croatia is working well on fulfilling criteria for membership to the Schengen Area, and Helsinki encourages it to continue in that direction and when all the criteria are met, Finland will support its accession, Soini underscored. He is the first Finnish foreign minister to visit Zagreb in the past seven years.
Soini underscored that Finland also supports Croatia on its path to the eurozone, however he warned that it won't be easy to meet all the criteria. We did that in Finland. That means austerity measures and budget control. That is good for investment growth and the prosperity of the entire nation, Sioni said who is a moderate Eurosceptic and who opposed financial aid for Greece claiming that it would be best for that country to exit the eurozone.
The two ministers agreed that the Finnish-Croatian relations are very good, however trade needs to be strengthened which currently amounts to 65 million euro a year.
There haven't been any problems between us and we won't make them, he added.
Pejčinović Burić announced that a Finnish trade delegation would be visiting Croatia in October with the aim of deepening cooperation while Soini announced that he would personally try and bring as many business people as possible.
We can acknowledge that we have a large growth in the number of tourists from Finland. In 2017, there were 110,000 tourists and direct flights introduced by Croatia Airlines and Finnair contributed to that, however, more can be done, Pejčinović Burić said.
The two ministers discussed cooperation within European institutions. Romania, Finland and Croatia form a trio that will chair the European Union from January 2019 to June 2020. Croatia's FM disclosed that a meeting between these three countries will be held in Zagreb in about ten days' time to define common priorities.
On 21 November, Finland will take over chairmanship of the Council of Europe from Croatia.
Pejčinović Burić recalled that Finland's experts are helping in upgrading Croatia's education system and announced continuation of cooperation in that area through a European Commission programme that stimulates exchanging experiences and expertise between member states.
Finland is the most active EU member in implementing twinning projects in Croatia, mostly related to cooperation between public administration. "The quality of Finnish experts working in Croatia has created an excellent basis so that now we can work together in third countries," Pejčinović Burić said, noting a recently approved joint twinning project of both countries in Montenegro.
The two ministers also discussed the situation in southeast Europe agreeing that the most important issue is stability and security and that they are closely following the developments in the run-up to the general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October. Both countries support countries in the region joining the European Union, provided that they fully meet all the criteria. "Strictly but fairly," Pejčinović Burić underlined.
