ZAGREB, November 29, 2018 - For Croatia and other Friends of Cohesion countries, it is important that the new EU multiannual budget for 2021-2027 provides sufficient funding to continue developing thanks to their membership in the Union, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Bratislava on Thursday, adding also that it mustn't be forgotten that Croatia is the youngest EU member and that it needs more time to catch up with other countries.

The Friends of Cohesion, an informal group of EU member states that are opposed to cohesion funds being reduced in the new multiannual budget, met in Bratislava on Thursday to once again ask that funding not be reduced for poorer countries that need to be assisted in coming closer to more developed and wealthier countries.

The new multiannual budget foresees a 6% cut in cohesion funds and a reduction of funding for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Croatia estimates that it would be entitled to 5.6% less money from cohesion funds.

The group was united in their stance and adopted a joint declaration setting out their priorities. "Today's meeting of the Friends of Cohesion is an important message ahead of the European Council. Cohesion policy and CAP mean a lot to our countries for reducing inequalities in society, for a better and more balanced regional development, and for catching up with old EU member states," Plenković said after the meeting.

The joint declaration comes two weeks ahead of the EU summit in Brussels that will discuss the new multiannual EU budget. "The messages in the declaration are good for all the countries here today and for Croatia in particular," Plenković said.

The declaration notes that the cohesion policy and common agricultural policy have to remain at the 2014-2020 budget level. Sufficient funding is required for real convergence, growth, jobs, investments and competitiveness within the Union and the Union on the global market, and at the same time for the fight against inequalities within and between member states.

Apart from needing to catch up with old and wealthier EU member states, Croatia also needs to catch up new members. "The thing that I have in particular underscored is that Croatia, compared to other members of the Cohesion group, is the youngest EU member state with only five years of membership. We need at least two financial perspectives to catch up with other members in Central and Eastern Europe," Plenković said.

"It is important that the new budget framework provides sufficient funding for new members to continue developing thanks to their membership of the European Union," he added.

"The European budget has to secure sufficient funding for security and defence, the fight against terrorism, climate change, sustainable transport, research and development, digitisation, migration, and to strengthen Europe's external activities," Plenković concluded.

As far as negotiations on the new financial perspective are concerned, Plenković is sceptical that they can be completed by the European parliamentary election next year.

For more on Croatia and the EU, click here.

ZAGREB, November 29, 2018 - The Friends of Cohesion meeting in Bratislava is a good opportunity to reiterate the importance of balanced regional development of all European Union member states and the need to reduce the inequalities between them, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday.

The meeting organised by Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini is a good opportunity for all member states, mainly those in Eastern Europe, but also founders such as Italy, to which it is important that the south continue to develop, to underline again the importance of balanced regional development of all member states, of reducing inequalities, and the significance of convergence in terms of economic growth, development and everything the European cohesion policy gives us as added value, Plenković told Croatian reporters covering his visit ahead of the meeting.

Representatives of the 16 EU member states which comprise the Friends of Cohesion group met today to make the political statement that they are against slashing cohesion funds in the EU's new multiannual budget intended for reducing differences between richer and poorer member states.

Our messages today will be that in the 2021-27 financial perspective those funds should be the real impetus for economic growth and development at national level, said Plenković. He was accompanied by Croatian Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac.

In order to maintain a sufficient level of cohesion policy funds, the Friends of Cohesion countries must act together, Pellegrini said ahead of the meeting also attended by the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia as well as senior representatives of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Italy, Portugal and Greece.

The 2021-27 multiannual financial framework which the European Commission proposed in May envisages less funds for the cohesion policy and agriculture than the current one. Under the proposal, Croatia would get 6% less funds.

Speaking of the 2021-27 framework, Plenković said its context was tied to two key elements, "a Union without the United Kingdom, one of the big contributors," and the question of "how to prevent with the Union's development policy the big problem of migration." He underlined the importance of the EU's awareness of the need to bolster the security policy, the external dimension and internal security.

Pellegrini said the Friends of Cohesion would sign a joint declaration at the end of the meeting to say that the new European budget must ensure sufficient funds to deal with new challenges such as security, defence, climate change and migration.

For more on Croatia’s use of EU funds, click here.

ZAGREB, November 26, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Sunday that the European Union had reached the best possible withdrawal agreement with the United Kingdom and that it was illusory to expect a better Brexit deal on the table.

The leaders of the 27 EU member states, meeting at a special summit in Brussels on Sunday, endorsed the withdrawal agreement with the UK and the political declaration on future EU-UK relations.

The toughest part follows after the summit as the British prime minister needs to secure a majority in the British Parliament to support the deal, which at this point is highly uncertain.

Asked if the EU had a fallback plan in case the agreement didn't go through the British Parliament in mid-December, Plenković said he wouldn't speculate. "Let's wait for that moment to come. What's clear from the speeches of most colleagues here is that it is quite illusory to expect that a better text will come on the table. In my opinion, this is a good compromise which is very generous to Great Britain, which has decided on its own to leave."

He said that British Prime Minister Theresa May was in an unenviable position because during the campaign preceding the Brexit referendum she had advocated staying in the EU.

Plenković reiterated that the country's departure would hit the UK the most, but that the EU would also be affected. "The Union without Great Britain, a permanent UN Security Council member, a nuclear power, a champion of free trade, a key country globally, is not the same anymore," the Croatian prime minister said.

He said he was pleased that the agreement had been reached, but that he was not happy that this had happened in the first place. He expressed hope that the Brexit situation would discourage other countries from taking the same path.

"All this that is happening in Great Britain, all these processes are not good at all. They can't focus on any other topic and are only preoccupied with this, which is bad. I think that the lesson from this is that topics like this should be better explained to the public," Plenković said.

He mentioned British Eurosceptic member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage as a person who had had the greatest influence on the British public in this matter and recalled that Farage had also taken part in a 2011 referendum campaign in Croatia on the country's EU membership bid.

"Therefore, lessons have been learnt. Now we know what happens when something like this is initiated legally. Politically, anyone who would follow this scenario wouldn't benefit from it. That is more than obvious," Plenković concluded.

For more on Croatia’s Brexit policies, click here.

ZAGREB, November 25, 2018 - European Union leaders, meeting at a special EU Brexit summit in Brussels on Sunday, endorsed an agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and a political declaration on future EU-UK relations, European Council President Donald Tusk announced after the meeting.

The European Council calls on the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council to take the necessary steps to ensure that the agreement can enter into force on 30 March 2019, so as to provide for an orderly withdrawal, Tusk added.

Speaking to reporters before the summit, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the UK's withdrawal was not good for the Union, but that it would hurt the UK the most.

"My position on this has been clear for several years now. It is a pity that this has occurred at all, but I think that this decision will have the most negative consequences for the United Kingdom itself, although it is not good for the European Union either," the Croatian prime minister said.

He said that since this process was initiated, it should be conducted in an orderly fashion. "That is why this withdrawal agreement, the political declaration on future relations and this arrangement regarding Gibraltar and Northern Ireland is the best possible way under the existing circumstances to regulate these issues."

For more on Croatia’s relations with the United Kingdom, click here.

ZAGREB, November 21, 2018 - Next year the European Commission will continue analysing macroeconomic risks in Croatia and overseeing its progress in reducing excessive macroeconomic imbalances, the European Union's executive said in a report on Wednesday.

The Commission released the 2019 Annual Growth Survey, the 2019 Alert Mechanism Report and the 2019 Joint Employment Report, marking the beginning of the 2019 European Semester cycle of economic and social policy coordination.

The Alert Mechanism Report says that 13 member states will be covered by an in-depth review in 2019 to assess whether they are experiencing macroeconomic imbalances. Those countries are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.

The results of the in-depth reviews will be presented as part of the country reports to be published in February or March 2019. Based on an assessment of whether the government's reform programme is ambitious enough to correct imbalances, the Commission will decide whether or not it will be necessary to trigger a corrective mechanism to address the macroeconomic imbalances.

"In March 2018, the Commission concluded that Croatia was experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances, linked to high levels of public, private and external debt, all largely denominated in foreign currency, in a context of low potential growth. In the updated scoreboard, a number of indicators are beyond the indicative threshold, namely the net international investment position (NIIP), the government debt and the unemployment rate," the Commission said.

If these positive trends continue, the Croatian economy may still experience macroeconomic imbalances next year, but they will no longer be excessive as in the previous five years.

Among the positive trends, the Commission cited the reduction of public debt and improvement of the net international investment position, which was negative - 90 percent of GDP in 2010 and 59.8 percent in the second quarter of 2018. The negative NIIP largely reflected foreign direct investment.

Unit labour costs were reduced, which contributed to competitiveness, and as a result Croatia gained market shares, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Private sector debt continued decreasing despite a recovery of credit flows in 2017. The reduction of non-performing loans in the banking sector slowed, and a large share of loans to non-financial corporations remains nonperforming, the report says.

"The government debt ratio declined further in 2017 also on account of an improving general government balance. The unemployment rate continued to decrease. However, labour market participation remains very low and, combined with sluggish productivity developments, it continues to weigh on potential growth. Risks associated with the country's largest employer, Agrokor, diminished after its creditors adopted a debt restructuring plan.

"Overall, the economic reading highlights the still high but decreasing debt levels and currency risk exposures in all sectors of the economy and the importance of higher potential growth for a durable correction. Therefore the Commission finds it useful, also taking into account the identification of an excessive imbalance in March 2018, to examine further the persistence of macroeconomic risks and to monitor progress in the unwinding of excessive imbalances," the Commission said, speaking about macroeconomic risks in Croatia.

According to data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, Croatia's public debt to GDP ratio was 76.1 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2018, its lowest level since 2012 when it stood at 69.4 percent of GDP. The unemployment rate in September 2018 was 8.2 percent.

For more on Croatia’s relations with the EU, click here.

ZAGREB, November 19, 2018 - Top-level authorities need to be educated about European Union funds and end-users need to be provided with full technical support in preparing and implementing European projects, according to conclusions of a conference on EU funds, which was held in Zagreb on Monday.

Participants in the conference, including a Croatian member of the European Parliament, Ivana Maletić, and officials of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, agreed that the end users were often not provided with satisfactory answers and that they faced delays in the payment of funds, which resulted in a rising aversion towards EU funds.

"We lack in managerial skills at all levels. We need training, and when it is organised, senior officials fail to attend such events," MEP Maletić said. "When it comes to the absorption of EU funds, it is necessary to be fast and focused," Maletić said.

She added that not all problems could be solved with EU money, but that the country should focus on a few priorities in their absorption.

Božana Bešlić of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development said that the end-beneficiaries of EU funds met with difficulties when seeking information about project preparation and implementation and noted that the sources of information were dispersed.

Saša Bukovac of the agency said that Croatia had over 18 billion kuna at its disposal for agriculture and rural development and that to date, contracts had been concluded for projects worth more than 9 billion kuna.

For more on Croatia and the EU funds, click here.

ZAGREB, November 16, 2018 - The EU enlargement to Southeast Europe will be one of the priorities of Croatia's EU presidency in the first half of 2020, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has said in an interview with the Italian news agency Nova.

EU expansion to Southeast Europe is of strategic importance for the stability of the whole of the EU considering the new geopolitical relations, Jandroković said during a two-day official visit to Italy. "Naturally, Croatia's support will be based on a credible, clear, strict and fair accession procedure, which it went through itself," he said.

The other topics that will be of relevance for Croatia during its presidency are the continuation of economic growth and employment, with emphasis on young people, consolidation of the EU's internal and external security, and energy and transport connectivity, said Jandroković.

He said that Croatia would very soon meet all criteria for accession to the Schengen area of passport-free travel and that he expected a political decision to that effect to be made at EU level before the start of the country's presidency of the Council of the EU.

Answering a question about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jandroković said that Croatia was concerned about the fact that the Croat member of the country's collective presidency had been elected by Bosniaks while a vast majority of Croats had voted for another candidate.

"It is necessary to amend the Bosnian election law in line with the Constitutional Court ruling on legitimate representation. The amendments must ensure the autonomous election and equal and legitimate representation of Croats, as one of the three constituent peoples," he said. "We expect the EU and the international community to be much more sensitive to this issue," said Jandroković.

For more on Croatia and the EU and the preparations for the EU presidency, click here.

ZAGREB, November 16, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Opatija on Thursday that a referendum on the introduction of the euro was held at the same time as the referendum on Croatia's European Union accession, during the vote on the Treaty of Accession "which says Croatia will join the euro area."

"Therefore a referendum was held," he said, responding to questions from the press about a euro referendum.

Asked about the chances of Croatia entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II as early as 2020, Plenković said the indicators were good regarding compliance with the Maastricht criteria. He added that Croatia had a euro introduction strategy and that a letter was being drawn up, to be forwarded by the minister of finance and the central bank governor, about the steps Croatia would take to enter the said mechanism, which is a prerequisite for joining the euro area.

Asked about dilemmas as to whether introducing the euro meant giving up a part of one's sovereignty, Plenković said "the European Union is bringing sovereignty together, thereby strengthening all the states within the European project."

"The euro is one of the closer integrations... Our goal is perfectly clear, strategically defined, confirmed at a referendum and adopted both in the accession negotiations and the Treaty of Accession. It is all part of the European project which, since 1990, has been the strategic commitment of all Croatian governments, all parliaments, all leaderships. There's no dilemma here. It is a policy of continuity and something that is in Croatia's interest," said Plenković.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković held a lecture for law students at the 74th International Council Meeting of the European Law Students' Association taking place in Opatija this week.

Plenković spoke about the current situation in Croatia and its future goals, identifying as his government's priorities entry into the euro area and the Schengen area of passport-free movement.

ELSA brings together 52,000 law students from 44 European countries.

As a student, Plenković was the founder of ELSA Croatia, its president and the president of the ELSA International Board in 1993.

For more on the relations between Croatia and the European Union, click here.

Marie-Paule Benassi, head of the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer Protection at the European Commission, said at a roundtable on consumer rights held in Zagreb that controversy over the difference in the quality of Nutella was primarily the result of different recipes used in production, as well as the tradition and consumer habits, reports Večernji List on November 12, 2018.

Over the last few years, different studies in some EU member states have shown that there are differences in the composition and characteristics of the same brands, mainly between the markets of eastern and western members. In the Commission's view, these results are not comparable because of different ways of collecting samples, testing and interpretation.

At a panel Consumer Rights Dialogue held in Zagreb and organised by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts and the European Commission Representation in Croatia, great attention was paid to the problem of dual quality products on European markets. During the discussion, the controversial case of differences in Nutella quality was also covered.

“We have discussed the issue with Ferrero, the owner of the Nutella brand, and they explained to us that they have two recipes. The original recipe, the one from Italy, is available in all EU member states except in Germany. They have a different recipe,” Benassi said, asked about the issue of dual quality of products on the European market. “Ferrero is now working on changing the recipes to bring the Italian recipe closer to all consumers. In Croatia, the original Italian recipe will be available, as in France and other member states," added Benassi.

She also noted that there was no exact definition of quality in the European Union and that much depends on the tradition and taste of consumers. She noted that there is a broad body of laws in the European Union which protect consumers' rights.

A report presented by Croatia’s MEP Biljana Borzan in September showed that the quality of some products, including Nutella, varies depending on whether they are sold on the markets of older or newer members of the European Union.

In April, the European Commission proposed a new agreement, also known as the New Deal, to ensure the same standards for all European consumers. It published a set of guidelines for the implementation of the EU food and consumer rights directives on dual- quality.

The EU consumer laws prohibit unfair trading practices such as making customers believe that certain products are the same in all countries because, for example, they are sold in the same packaging under the same name, although they are substantially different in terms of composition and characteristics.

“The single market should not be a market of products of different quality. All member states should have products of the same quality if it is the same product,” said Ivona Bačelić Grgić, head of the Trade Department at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

Ivana Soić, Assistant Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, said that Croatia would soon launch a website specializing in consumer rights.

For more on Croatia’s position within the EU, click here.

ZAGREB, November 8, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his Finnish counterpart Juha Sipila, who met in Helsinki on Wednesday, agreed that the relations between Croatia and Finland had been more and more developed, and were now together preparing the programme for the European trio that will chair the Council of the European Union over the next year and a half year.

We have very good bilateral relations and had a good talk on EU issues and on bilateral relations. Our countries, together with Romania, form the trio faced with a challenging period when the European Parliament the Commission and others will change. I hope that we will not leave a lot unresolved matters for you during your chairmanship, Sipila told reporters after the talks with Plenković who arrived in Helsinki to attend a conference of the European People's Party.

Romania, which will take over the chairmanship at the start of next year, followed by Finland in the second half of 2019 and Croatia in the first half of 2020, form a European trio that together prepare the programme for the next year and a half.

Prime Minister Plenković also expressed satisfaction with the good development of the Croatia-Finland relations and their intensified contact, and recalled the introduction of four direct flights between Croatia and Finland during the six months of the tourism season which has notably contributed to tourist arrivals from Finland.

"With regard to the programme of the European trio, I think that our priorities converge with regard to growth, security, migration, global issues, relations with Southeast Europe, enlargement and joint efforts to complete negotiations over the multi-annual financial framework," Plenković said and expressed hope that those negotiations will have been completed by the time Croatia takes over the chairmanship. "If that happens to await us, we will be prepared," he said.

Agreement over the seven-year budget framework is always one of the most demanding issues in the European Union and negotiations go on for a long time. The European Commission delivered its draft multi-annual budget in May and expressed hope that an agreement on this matter would be reached before the European Parliament election in the spring next year. However, the chances for that are slim. In any case it is not excluded that an agreement is reached during Croatia's chairmanship.

Asked how to tackle populism, which is an increasing phenomenon throughout Europe, Plenković said that he endeavours to raise awareness in the Croatian public of European topics in such a way that after each summit meeting he speaks in parliament about the conclusions adopted at those meetings.

"My party's policy is very clear. We try to present matters as they are. We strive to win voters' support for a very clear platform without rhetoric that generates fear. The European Parliament election will be an opportunity to win the confidence of voters, an opportunity to send encouraging messages. Various types of parties exist. There are political parties and parties that can govern. We are a party that can govern," said Plenković who is the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Sipila added that in that regard the most important thing was to implement what the party had promised its voters.

For more on the HDZ party, click here.