ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - Croatia is an exceptionally successful European story, European Commissioner president elect Ursula von der Leyen said in a brief address to the press upon arriving in Zagreb on Tuesday ahead of talks with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Croatia is the youngest member of the European Union yet at the start of 2020 it will chair the Council of the EU.
Croatia is an exceptionally successful story and it is model for many, many countries, said Von der Leyen.
She expressed her admiration for Croatia's achievements and thanked Croatia and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for supporting her election as the EC's president.
Von der Leyen presented her platform two weeks ago and on Tuesday recalled important topics such as innovations, digitisation, and demography.
I think that there are many opportunities in the demography challenge if we approach that issue in the right way, she said.
She underscored support to parents and subsidies. Population decrease is a problem facing many countries.
But Europe is a leader and we can investigate how to approach that problem and benefit from it, because there are ways that challenges can be transformed into opportunities, she said.
She reiterated the objectives of her presidency.
My political objectives are to achieve a balance between the east and west, to achieve a balance between the north and south, to achieve a balance between smaller and larger members, she said. But that can only be possible through unity, she underscored.
If we are united, advanced, strong, if we speak strongly with a European voice, we can succeed, Von der Leyen said.
Prime Minister Plenković said that Croatia would use today's talks to present Croatia's particularities to the EC president.
Croatia is catching up not only with older member states but with new ones who entered in 2004 and in 2007, so that it can arrive at the level that is appropriate to those who are developed in this European family, he said.
He mentioned fulfilling all the criteria for Croatia to access the Schengen Area, and a strategy to introduce the euro currency.
More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.
