ZAGREB, October 10, 2019 - The presidency of the European Union is an opportunity for the Croatian economy, but the question is whether the national economy is prepared for it, a conference entitled "Economic aspects of the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU", organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and MBA Croatia, was told in Zagreb on Thursday.
"During a presidency emphasis is often placed on opportunities to organise events, but that is of secondary importance. ... Much more important is influence on policy, the EU system, especially on the budget," said Marko Jurčić, adviser to the HGK president.
"Now is our chance to influence these elements and better promote our interests. These six months actually gives us an opportunity to create a better starting position for our economy in the next seven to eight years," he added.
The CEO of the Vlahović Group, Natko Vlahović, said the EU presidency was an excellent opportunity for the Croatian economy "but realistically speaking it is not prepared for the EU presidency nor informed." He said that it would be Croatia's first presidency of the Union and that the country did not have practical experience.
Vlahović said that another problem was that Croatia had not specified whether its focus would be on "the economy or on political and European themes." He said that during its presidency Estonia, for example, had focused on digitisation, while Malta put special emphasis on cryptocurrencies.
"We should not have too great expectations. Six months pass very quickly anyway. We can promote our priorities, but there is not much room. That's why small countries usually choose one focus, and we have opted for a political focus - enlargement," said Senada Šelo Šabić, a senior researcher at the Institute for Development and International Relations, adding that it was questionable whether this was good for Croatia.
She said that the success of a presidency was measured by legislative acts adopted, adding that it was not good that Croatia would hold the presidency at the start of the term of the new Commission.
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