March the 25th, 2021 - The EU digital green certificate proposal has piqued the interest of most people, be that for good or bad reasons, but the idea which has conveniently made sure the controversial ''covid passport'' term isn't in its name still has a lot of question marks above its head.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the EU green digital certificate won't solve all of the now highly specific problems that are set to arise around the freedom of travel and protection against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but it will provide a model that will ensure the mobility of EU citizens and eliminate the current discrimination which goes against EU rules. 

The above was the main conclusion drawn from the online conference "Digital Certificates and the COVID-19 virus" which was organised by the Office of the European Parliament in Croatia back at the end of last week.

Croatian MEP Valter Flego pointed out that last year showed us the chaos that can quite easily arise and this year we all need to try our best to avoid it happening again at all costs.

"It's obvious that this Easter is also going to be a failure in terms of any sort of tourist season, and it's certain that the opening up of the country will not take place even during the pre-season. We should already be engulfed in some serious preparations for the upcoming season, everything should be ready for the pre-season, including the hiring of seasonal workers.

Tourist staff would now be at various fairs and finishing off everything for this season and starting preparations for the next one. But there's been none of that. Last week, the European Commission (EC) adopted a proposal for the introduction of the EU digital green certificate, but the fact is that due to bureaucratic and technical reasons, the move will only come to life in two to three months from now,'' Flego warned.

He explained the importance of the EU digital green certificate through one simple example - if a family of four now wants to go from Germany on holiday to Croatia and return home, then they need to set aside 600 euros for testing, which is ridiculous and enough to put anyone off bothering going anywhere at all.

Analyses show, according to Flego, that the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will be 10-12 times longer and more expensive than the situation following the 2009 economic crisis was.

"If coronavirus just disappeared right now at this moment, the question is how successful our recovery of the economy, and especially tourism, would be this year. Some people in Croatia say that this year we will be at 60 percent of the turnover of 2019. Personally, I'm not convinced of that and I really don't know what such estimates are based on,'' concluded Flego.

MEP Tomislav Sokol emphasised that this model of the EU digital green certificate, although compromises must still be reached and there will still be harmonisation to come in the Council and the Parliament, is certainly a great achievement in many fields. It will end discrimination against EU citizens with regard to which member states they come from and simplify and reduce the cost of their travel.

"The EC has given member states the right to decide on the details, from how and which tests they will accept, to the fact that each country can decide which vaccine to recognise as being valid - including those which aren't registered in the EU, such as the Russian and Chinese vaccines.

However, it's already a great achievement in itself that the certificates will be bilingual and machine-readable, which means that there will be no procedures and costs for translating and establishing their authenticity,'' said Sokol.

He also pointed out that it is important that there will be no first or second class citizens and that there will be no restrictions on movement for any EU citizens. Sokol also referred to the issue that many EU member states are already looking at, or even seriously considering, using both Russian and Chinese vaccines, which haven't been approved by the EU itself.

"The EC regulation on digital certificates states that each country can decide whether and under what conditions to accept those certificates and vaccines that have not received EU approval. In this particular case, this means that Croatia can accept certificates for, for example, Hungarian residents/citizens who have been vaccinated with the Russian or Chinese vaccine,'' explained Sokol.

What about those who don’t want to be vaccinated?

Professor Iris Goldner Lang from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb pointed out that so far, we've had to get used to researching every day on how to enter and return from countries, because there were, and still are, vastly different measures which are changing almost daily. This new EU model solves all this through a "green certificate".

"This sort of digital confirmation will take some time yet because today we have a situation where relatively few citizens have been vaccinated. In some cases, people refuse to be vaccinated for whatever reason, but more importantly, there are a large number of countries where vaccine distribution is still in its infancy.

From the perception of the EU legal system, the EU digital green certificate would be unacceptable at this point as it would lead to discrimination because very few people are currently vaccinated, for one reason or another. That's why it's still going to take some time for it to come to life,'' said Goldner Lang. She added that even after vaccination is at a high level, there will be people who aren't allowed or who don't want to be vaccinated, and the way in which they can travel will have to be regulated.

The legal expert recalled that there have been certain vaccination rules and obligations in the world for many years to enter some countries - mostly African countries that insist on vaccination against, for example, yellow fever and some other infectious diseases.

For more on travel, borders rules, testing centres and other information on coronavirus specific to Croatia, bookmark this page.

March the 24th, 2021 - The subject of Croatia joining the Eurozone has been put on the backburner, at least in the public eye, ever since the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe. Despite other things now taking priority in the media space, the matter of Croatian Eurozone membership is still very much a hot topic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, Croatian Eurozone membership can officially begin on January the 1st, 2023 at the absolute earliest, and the biggest advantages of the country's adoption of the common European currency could be in the form of export-oriented companies within the area. The above was discussed at a recent conference on the matter organised by the student association Financial Club in Zagreb.

"Whether or not Croatia will enter the Eurozone on January the 1st, 2023 or a year or two later, all depends on when we'll manage to meet the nominal convergence criteria," said Croatian National Bank (HNB/CNB) Governor Boris Vujcic, recalling that Croatia did successfully join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERMII) last summer. The Governor noted that ERM II membership requires EU member states to spend at least two years within the mechanism, often known as the Eurozone's ''waiting room''.

If Croatia fails to meet the nominal convergence conditions of the so-called Maastricht criteria - a stable exchange rate, stable interest rates, a budget deficit and level of public debt, a country can then end up spending an unlimited period of time in the ERM II, as opposed to just a couple of years.

Vujcic referred to the research which revealed residents of Croatia are most afraid of falling living standards due to rising prices upon the realisation of Croatian Eurozone membership. Research in the countries that have already adopted the euro shows that this isn't actually a justified fear because in the year of the introduction of the euro, prices rose by an average of a mere 0.23 percentage points.

Economy Minister Tomislav Coric said that potentially the biggest winners from the country's introduction of the euro could be Croatia's exporters, given the disappearance of any currency risk. He pointed out that Croatian Eurozone membership is not a mere means to an end in itself, but instead is a very good tool for long-term economic growth, stability and development.

For current information about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including border rules, travel regulations, testing centres and more, click here.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of October, 2020, the Republic of Croatia should be able to withdraw 490 million euros by the end of the year from the SURE programme, which was established by the European Union in the spring with the aim of supporting the preservation of jobs and reducing the risk of unemployment and losses of income across the Union.

This was pointed out at the session of the Government by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, who is authorised on behalf of the Government to sign the Agreement with the EU on a loan for this type of temporary support.

The total projected amount that the European Commission will redirect to Croatia within the SURE programme amounts to slightly more than a billion euros (1.02 billion), which means that a payment of slightly less than half is expected within the next two months. The aforementioned 490 million euros will then be included in the budget revision.

Maric noted that the goal of establishing the SURE programme is to provide additional financial assistance to the affected member states of the European Union in the total amount of up to 100 billion euros, taken out in the form of EU loans. The EC will borrow for this financing on financial markets, and then lend these funds to member states under more favourable conditions.

The SURE programme has already become operational, focusing primarily on part-time schemes and similar measures to help EU member states preserve jobs and protect employees from the risk of unemployment and loss of income. This is a move which also applies to self-employed individuals.

Maric emphasised that Croatia had applied for funding to finance measures that had led to a sharp and serious increase in actual and planned expenditures that were directly linked together, on the one hand, to subsidies for job preservation and support for part-time work.

The maximum average maturity of the loans issued under the SURE programme is 15 years, and the period of availability for financial support stands at 18 months. The financial support can be used through a maximum of eight installments, which can be repaid through one or more tranches, the Minister explained, emphasising that these are extremely favourable loans.

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As Novac writes on the 2nd of October, 2020 - the Central Tachograph Data Processing System (SOTAH) started operating here in Croatia on the first day of October 2020. It is a digital system based on modern information and communication technologies implemented in the form of service-oriented architecture that will facilitate the monitoring of tachograph data by carriers and drivers, and provide the relevant services with tools that will enable greater safety of freight and passenger road traffic, as they stated from AKD (Agency for Commercial Activity).

SOTAH complies with all existing EU rules, and allows for upgrades in line with the changes brought in by the new Mobility Package, which relate to the working hours of mobile workers (drivers) and the protection of competition in the field of road transport. The system stores, processes and analyses a whole range of data recorded by all types of tachographs (analog, digital, smart); it enables the recording of the performed work of technicians in authorised tachograph workshops, and transport companies are provided with the easier storage of tachograph data and timely information on each transfer. From the user's point of view, the system is platform independent, which means that it can be accessed from various devices, as well as stationary and mobile workstations.

''I'm glad that a Croatian company has designed a system that provides a number of new and advanced tools for traffic management. Competent authorities in Croatia, traffic police and inspections from SOTAH will enable more efficient operational work by increasing the number of targeted instead checks instead of random ones, which will certainly facilitate the supervision of traffic participants, but most importantly, provide objective data on the situation in freight and passenger road traffic to improve legal regulations with which we want to increase the safety of passengers, drivers and cargo,'' explained Oleg Butkovic, Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure.

The first in a series of users of the new system and the guarantee of its successful operation are authorised tachograph workshops, which have been trained for all work processes for a month and have tested them. One of the active participants during the trial period was Mr. Mario Stefanac, the owner of several tachograph workshops, who praised the simplicity of the system that allows him to fully view all relevant data in one place and monitor business activities in real time, as well as prepare the necessary reports.

From the 1st of October 2020, all authorised tachograph testing workshops are allowed to apply to SOTAH for the issuance of ''Test Certificate'' forms and associated protective foils. From the 1st of November 2020, the workshops will be able to record all activities carried out through the application for the recording of workshop activities. In the next step, SOTAH will also be open to businesses.

The operator of the SOTAH system is the Agency for Commercial Activity (AKD), which provided a complete solution and technical ICT infrastructure, as well as logistics, so that all processes in the system could run smoothly. AKD is also the holder of public authority for the issuance of tachograph cards, which drivers can recently request through the e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) system.

''AKD is a leader in the field of creating and protecting electronic identity and implementing solutions necessary for the digital transformation of Croatian society, so in the specific field of road traffic control it ranked Croatia among the member states that managed to complete the technological migration of smart tachograph systems of the second generation,'' said Jure Sertic, CEO of AKD, adding that this state-owned company is fully developing Croatian solutions, and supplying its services and products to as many as seventeen foreign countries.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of September, 2020, Croatian citizens have made it quite clear that they trust the various EU institutions more than they trust the actual Croatian Government, according to a survey conducted by Eurofound which is based in the Irish city of Dublin. Eurofound is otherwise Europe's leading NGO for labour market and quality of life research, Vecernji list reported.

On a scale of one to ten, Croatian citizens rated their government at a somewhat unimpressive 2.9, while giving the leadership of the European Union a significantly higher (although still not high in itself) score of 4.2. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia back in April, PM Andrej Plenkovic's team was rated four, but by July that trust had been lost.

The aforementioned Croatian publication reminds us of the fact that in that period, HDZ confirmed its mandate, and Andrej Plenkovic won a significant number of votes. Only those in power in Poland did worse than the Croatian Government in this particular Eurofound survey, with Polish citizens rating their government at just 2.4 on the scale.

Bulgarians, Hungarians, Slovenes, Romanians, Czechs and Belgians are at the back end of the list too, while the Scandinavians, Germans, Irish, Portuguese and Austrians have the greatest confidence in the moves of their respective national authorities according to this Eurofound study.

Confidence in leadership was just one of the topics of a survey of quality of life and the labour market conducted among nearly 90,000 respondents across EU member states.

Young people, women and the unemployed lost the most due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis across all of the European Union's member states. Many countries have invested a significant amount of funds to save employment, but that money has clearly not saved the most vulnerable population, reports Vecernji list.

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The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been incredibly damaging to the European retail trade, with Croatia's economy being among the worst hit in the entire European Union (EU). While there were some 'good' aspects to come out of this, such as more Croats online shopping and turning to domestic produce, it's still very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel for many.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of July, 2020, the growth of European retail trade was mostly driven by motor fuels on a monthly basis, given the fact that it recorded growth of almost 40 percent across the EU.

After the April decline in retail trade on European market, which stood at 11.4 percent on a monthly basis in the European Union and at 12.1 percent in the Eurozone itself, May finally brought some respite to the enfeebled industry brought to its knees by the negative consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic.

In that month, after easing the "lockdown" measures which were put into place to try to slow down the rate of infection which was sweeping the globe with a remarkable yet terrifying ease, the European retail market grew by an encouraging 16.4 percent when compared to the terrible results recorded during April, while in the Eurozone, it managed to reach 17.8 percent according to Eurostat.

However, on an annual basis, May could have actually been somewhat of a negative sign because compared to last year, there was an expected decline in that month, by 4.2 percent in the European Union, and by 5.1 percent in the area which uses the common European currency (Eurozone).

With encouraging retail growth of 21.4 percent in May, Croatia was among the countries with the highest growth, led by Luxembourg with 28.6 percent, followed by France with 25.6 percent and then by Austria with 23.3 percent growth.

As stated, the growth of the European retail trade was mostly driven by motor fuels on a monthly basis, given that this item in the recorded growth of almost 40 percent in the EU. Non-food products followed fuel with 30.2 percent growth.

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July 1, 2020 - Reflections on the Croatian Presidency from a Brussels point of view – Welcoming Uhljebi to Brussels and how COVID-19 became the best friend of the Croatian presidency.

Two weeks ago, on a business trip to Brussels, I met with several Croatians working in the heart of Europe. Talk inevitably came around to the Croatian EU Presidency, which ended yesterday. I asked how it looked from a Croatian perspective from a longterm Brussels resident. After a few minutes of discussion, I invited him to write his thoughts, as he clearly had a lot to say. This is his account, written on condition of anonymity due to his job. 

On 1 January 2020, Croatia took over the presidency of the Council of the EU, for the first time since it joined the European Union in 2013. It was a magnificent moment for the Croatian government and Prime Minister Plenkovic personally. An opportunity to shine and show the presidency as something for which he personally deserved merit. The truth and the facts are very far from this. As we all know, the presidency of the Council rotates among the EU Member States every six months. During this six- month period, the presidency chairs meetings at every level in the Council, helping to ensure the continuity of the EU's work in the Council. So it is a regular process, as night follows day.

The Croatian presidency’s programme focused on four main priorities: a Europe that is developing, a Europe that connects, a Europe that protects, and an influential Europe, united under the motto ‘A Strong Europe in a World of Challenges’. Indeed, the times could not be more challenging. Not only in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic which constitutes an unprecedented challenge, but also taking into account Brexit, the EU's long-term budget, the Green Deal and the migration crisis. No less challenging was working with Croatia during the presidency. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was a tragedy it inadvertently helped those involved in the activities of the Croatian presidency. More ironically we could say that COVID-19 was sent to save the Croatian presidency.

You might think it's a joke, some funny story, or that I am exaggerating?

To give you an overview of the first three months that reflect how the Croatian presidency would look like, we should go back to the beginning of 2019. Why a year ago? Because each country has up to two years of preparations prior to taking the helm of the Council. From the coordination with their Brussels-based people working for the EU institutions and private sector, regional offices, MEPs, for the organisation of meetings, the hiring process, to more operational and technical issues, both in Brussels and at home. But this was not the case with Croatia. I am surrounded by Croats working in diplomacy, regional representations, EU institutions and for the private sector. Most of them are public affairs professionals that were eager to temporarily join the Croatian crew in Brussels and to help their country to lead the presidency. It is a common practice applied by all states.

So, after the Christmas holidays when we were back in Brussels, in mid-January 2019, I met with them and we spoke about the process which should have started already and they were very enthusiastic about it. They were absolutely sure that the upcoming hiring process would be fully transparent so they would be able to apply and with their knowledge and experience in those six months help the presidency. Everyone who works in the EU public affairs sector is familiar with the presidency's procedures so they were sure that the job vacancies would be published soon.

Since February is mostly a busy period in Brussels, we met at the beginning of March with a completely different approach. They had some inside information that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs would start the hiring process in Spring, but as time passed we were aware that this was not going to happen. To be precise, some processes had already started in late 2017 within the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. Suddenly the word was being spread, people started saying that these positions were ‘reserved’ for who else than Uhljebi, people who are members of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union). To explain the familiar Croatian story they just needed to apply and this job was promised to them as well as a high position within the Permanent Representation, without any special skills and qualifications. The most relevant and important criteria was to be a member of the ruling party HDZ.

Unfortunately, even in Brussels, Croatia could not abandon the Uhljebistan way of doing things. So they were not planning to hire experts (Croats!) living in Brussels, assistants to Croatian MEPs whose mandates have just ended, but their plan was to bring to Brussels a bunch of Uhljebs, people they didn't want in the ministries, state-owned companies and public administration in general and they wanted to get rid of them and send them to Brussels. From Osijek to Dubrovnik, some of them were already working for the representative offices in Brussels and they were waiting for other positions which would ensure that they wouldn't have to do anything, so maintaining their usual familiar practices.

One of my colleagues called me to tell me the news and she took the words out of my mouth. We all knew what that meant. From that moment on we were sure that the Croatian presidency would be nothing more than a disaster, a waste of taxpayers' money, without strategy or aim. Everything that followed only confirmed our concerns. Somehow we thought this would not happen this time, because Plenkovic cares too much about the opinion from Brussels, so he would not gamble this time. But it was the opposite, all responsible people in the ministries were familiar with the process, from Zalac who was in charge of the hiring process for their portfolio, together with Pejcinovic Buric, blessed by Plenkovic.

They even published a few vacancies, but these were hilarious and published only to justify the minimum transparency requirements. It was obvious from the job descriptions, the low requirements, the unclear location, to deadlines for interviews that they had already their own people for these positions - "jobs for the boys.” And later these people themselves were complaining in Brussels how complicated the screening and recruitment procedures were, they had to spend a few months in Zagreb, working in the ministries to go through all the necessary security vetting by SOA (Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency). The craziest thing was that theywere still hiring in January 2020, after the start of the Presidency, when they realized they were still short of people and candidates were randomly appearing with no knowledge of what their roles were or what the presidency meant. And Croatian people with a strong background in EU policies, working for the EU institutions again did not get the chance to apply. Why again? Because all of them are people who had left Croatia because of these well-known practices and the Uhljeb environment.

All that followed in the first two or three months of the Croatian presidency was only a reflection on what has already been mentioned. The preparation for the presidency started too late, in August Irena Andrassy was appointed as Croatia's new Permanent Representative to the European Union, just months prior to Croatia taking over the presidency. Later she would be remembered for 'Thanks, goodbye and good riddance’ —the EU’s parting words to the UK.

A large part of the criticism of the Croatian presidency refers to; a lack of openness and transparency, lack of structure and coordination, inefficient and slow communication, weak or missing support for prioritised joint EU events on the topics the Croatian presidency would deal with. Simple examples in daily communication with them range from full inboxes, no written correspondence, preference for telephone calls, waiting for feedback for several weeks to incompetent ministers with no relevant knowledge and language skills. Nevertheless, even official meetings were arranged in cafes as it is the custom in Croatia, to the general surprise of the people working in Brussels. Unfortunately, Croatia did not learn anything from its predecessor, Finland, who did a great job in the area of transparency. Increasing the openness and transparency of the European Union has been one of Finland’s goals, they ensured open, professional, reliable and fast communications as well as publishing the information on all meetings of the Permanent Representative and her deputy with lobbyists. Replying to a media enquiry why Croatia did not publish this information, a presidency spokesperson said that Croatia did plan to eventually publish its ambassadors’ meetings on its website, but the site was currently undergoing a redesign, but as you might imagine they were never published.

What will Croatia's EU presidency be remembered for?

In the broader EU context it will for sure be the violence and abuse of migrants and asylum-seekers by Croatian police on its external borders, Croatian silence on Hungary’s democratic backsliding, but it is also important not to forget Plenkovic's attempt to push through a government legislative initiative which would suspend labour and social rights at a time when other Member States were trying their best to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic and to support people and jobs. But how could it ever be possible to achieve anything positive when Plenkovic was constantly distracted by the crisis in his government, with the dismissal of ministers due to numerous scandals. One of the last being the dismissal of the health minister Kujundzic in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. Kujundzic as the Croatian health minister should have been in charge of organising the first emergency EU health ministers meeting in Brussels, chaired by the Croatian presidency. The EU’s health commissioner Kyriakides, had called on Zagreb on 29 January to organize the gathering but as Kujundzic had been dismissed, it took another two weeks for the new minister Beros, to organise the meeting in Brussels which finally happened on 13 February. Plenkovic has since done his best to set up the national COVID-19 crisis centre with his people, members of HDZ to fight the COVID pandemic and to help him spread the image of a perfect Croatia to the world.

When we take everything into account, we can clearly see that there has been no benefit from the Croatian presidency, they spent ten, if not hundreds of millions of Euros, without any positive impact on the economy, tourism or promotion of the Country itself. Without a focus on the country's investment priorities, support of Croatian companies, without any relevant message. They did not take the opportunity to further position themselves economically and diplomatically within the EU. By the way, we should also say that the Croatian MEPs did not contribute in any way.

If we must choose at least one success of the Croatian presidency without thinking it would be the opening of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. The biggest disappointment for Plenkovic for sure was the Zagreb summit which had been planned as a potential milestone in the enlargement process and one of the major High-level events in Croatia. I wouldn't bet whose disappointment was greater, his or that of Commissioner Suica regarding her plan for the Future of Europe conference and the performance supposed to launch the conference in Dubrovnik on Europe Day.

We can conclude that unfortunately thanks to COVID we were able to avoid all further mistakes, omissions and embarrassments of the Croatian presidency, which would certainly have happened in large numbers. Right now we are witnessing how the Croatian government is barely able to keep the reins in its hands before the presidency ends, to manage the second Coronavirus crisis currently happening in Croatia and to survive the upcoming elections.

Finally, I would like to point out that many extremely dedicated, capable people, were working for the presidency as well. People that were covering for dozens of Uhljebi whose only goal was to have a reference on their CVs and who proudly pointed this out while walking around Brussels. Unfortunately, the Croatian way of working is the same everywhere, and all parties do the same things, corruption still rules Croatia and that is why there are so many Croats in Brussels and all over the world who are not planning to return. If Croatia had been a normal EU country, in the past six months this government would have resigned at least a dozen times, due to various scandals. But given all these negative circumstances, we must never forget the people who are still trying to be the positive change that Croatia needs so much.

On a parting note ahead of the upcoming German Presidency, it is best to just quote Politico "Given that the current Croatian presidency has arguably under performed [...] it may be just the right moment to have a powerful nation with a reputation for efficiency, in charge.”

ZAGREB, May 10, 2020 - Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek took part on Saturday on the occasion of Europe Day in an online seminar co-organised by Europa Nostra and Europeana which addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural heritage.

Participants also discussed recovery prospects and the need for further action and defining policies at European level, the ministry said in a press release.

Obuljen Koržinek said the crisis affected the cultural and creative sectors, including cultural heritage, especially strongly.

Cultural heritage risk management has been one of the main topics of Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union in the field of culture, which gained new significance after the devastating Zagreb earthquake in late March, she added.

Numerous measures to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic have been taken at national level, and the Croatian presidency has been in contact with EU member states, international organisations and professional associations to gain better insight into the situation, difficulties and assistance measures at European level, the minister said.

She recalled that on April 30 the ministers of culture signed a declaration on the need to adopt an ambitious and sustainable response to facilitate a swift, effective and flexible recovery of the cultural and creative sectors.

The minister said the Council of Ministers would meet on May 19 to discuss ways to align the support system and cultural policies in the post-coronavirus period in the EU and nationally.

Participants in the seminar supported a joint statement which the organisations comprising he European Heritage Alliance have prepared with a view to putting cultural heritage in the centre of Europe's recovery and revival.

More news about Croatia and the EU can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 7, 2020 - The European Union sent from the Zagreb Summit on Wednesday a strong message to Western Balkan countries that they have an unequivocal European perspective and that their future is in the EU.

Leaders of the EU's 27 member states and six Western Balkan countries held a summit via video link because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Although the meeting, unfortunately, was not held as would have liked, by physically coming together in Zagreb, in terms of content we have achieved results in line with our expectations and those of our south-eastern neighbours," Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković one of the co-organisers of the summit, said at a press conference.

"I'm sure the peoples and states in our neighbourhood will appreciate the message that was sent today from Zagreb and all other capitals of the EU member states," he added.

"The European Union wants to continue to support the countries of Southeast Europe on their path to the EU. We wanted to send a message for the continuation of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Croatia especially underlined that Bosnia and Herzegovina as its nearest neighbour deserves membership candidate status and that it should be helped in that. In that context, we underlined the issue of the equality of the constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably the status of the Croatian people in terms of legitimate representation in the highest BiH institutions," Plenković said.

He pushed for holding such EU-Western Balkans summits every two years at least.

He said he was pleased the blockade of a decision to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania was lifted during Croatia's EU presidency.

Asked if some countries in the region should be more grateful to the EU and kiss the European flag instead of China's, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić did, Plenković said it was not up to him to talk on anyone's behalf but that all six Western Balkan countries had clearly articulated their European orientation.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the Western Balkans was an absolute priority for the EU and that this region belonged to the EU.

She underlined the importance of reforms, notably regarding freedom of the press, which she said was the cornerstone of the EU and the best instrument in the fight against disinformation.

European Council President Charles Michel underlined the importance of the Zagreb Declaration which once again reaffirmed the European perspective of Western Balkan countries.

He welcomed the €3.3 billion aid package which the EU set aside for them to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

More news about Croatia and the EU can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 5, 2020 - The European perspective, the commitment of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union and cooperation in the coronavirus crisis are the key elements of a declaration that will be adopted at the central event of the Croatian EU presidency in Zagreb on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Tuesday.

On the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the summit of the 27 EU member states and the six Western Balkan countries, scheduled for May 6, will be held online in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Cooperation in dealing with the pandemic, giving the Western Balkan countries the European perspective and these countries' commitment to European values" are the key elements of the Zagreb Declaration, Grlić Radman told the press outside the government offices.

He recalled that North Macedonia and Albania had been given the green light on their path to EU membership which he said was "a great Croatian success".

Zagreb will again host a summit on the European perspective of Southeast Europe, just as it did 20 years ago when Croatia was not yet a member of the EU. The next summit was held in Thessaloniki in 2003 and the last one took place two years ago in Sofia.

The Croatian EU Presidency has proposed that summits on European integration be held every two years, Grlić Radman said.

"Not all EU members are equally interested in enlargement. There is still talk of what the future will bring with new members, but Croatia has shown the initiative in this regard," he said.

More news about Croatia and the Western Balkans can be found in the Politics section.