ZAGREB, 25 Nov 2021 - The French national anthem played outside Croatian President Zoran Milanović's office to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron, the first French president visiting Croatia since it gained independence.

Milanović welcomed Macron with the highest state honors.

The Croatian Armed Forces orchestra played the two countries' national anthems. Also present was the Honorary and Protection Battalion.

After the welcoming ceremony, the two presidents went to a tête-à-tête meeting.

Macron will then lay a wreath at the Homeland Monument in Stjepan Radić Square. He expressed the wish to pay his respects to those killed in the 1991-95 Homeland War and will be the first high guest to do so at the new Zagreb memorial.

After that, Macron is going to the government.

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ZAGREB, 22 Nov 2021 - French President Emmanuel Macron is the first French president to officially visit Croatia, and his visit on Wednesday and Thursday is exceptionally important for Zagreb, which will receive support for entry to the Schengen and euro areas and finalize a contract on the purchase of French fighter jets.

"The visit is in line with Croatia's strategic goals for 2022 - entry to the Schengen and euro areas and the strengthening of defense capabilities with the Rafale aircraft," a Croatian government source said on Monday.

Croatia expects the legal procedure for the adoption of a formal decision on its admission to the Schengen area of passport-free movement to begin in December this year, during Slovenia's EU presidency, and it expects the final decision to be adopted during France's presidency in the first half of 2022.

Talks with President Macron on Schengen, therefore, have a twofold significance - France is one of the main EU members and its EU presidency starts on 1 January, the source said.

The source noted that Croatia also expected to receive France's support for admission to the euro area.

The French president will arrive in Croatia on Wednesday evening, his formal host being Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and the reason for that is that the French president, in line with his extensive powers in the presidential political system, is one of the few heads of state who sit on the European Council, which comprises mostly prime ministers. As such, Macron is a formal colleague to other countries' prime ministers, the source said.

Macron will on Thursday be received for talks by President Zoran Milanović, after which he will meet with PM Plenković.

The talks between Plenković and Macron will focus on bilateral relations, the Western Balkans, the Eastern Partnership, with emphasis on Ukraine and Belarus, the strengthening of the EU's strategic independence, and global topics.

France and Croatia already have an agreement on a strategic partnership but they will sign a new one covering a number of new areas, the source said.

The first visit of a French president is considered important also in light of the fact that France is the EU's leading military power, its only nuclear power, and the only permanent member of the UN Security Council from the EU.

After Plenković and Macron sign a new agreement on strategic partnership, the two countries' defense ministers, Mario Banožić and Florence Parly, will sign an agreement on the procurement of the Rafale jets.

Country's security to be raised to the highest level ever

The purchase of the Rafale jets, "the most modern, new-generation aircraft, for the least money and with the fastest delivery" will mean a huge step forward in Croatia's defense security, raising it to the highest level ever, government officials have said.

Croatia will obtain the most powerful aircraft in the area between Germany and Greece, which will enhance its geopolitical importance as there are no jets in its neighborhood that could be compared with the Rafale.

The jets are expected to arrive in late 2023, which is when Croatia will be able to control its entire territory for the first time, the government source said.

Zagreb in May announced that it would buy 12 Rafale jets to modernize its armed forces, opting for the biggest procurement of military equipment since its war of independence, the Agence France Presse has said ahead of Macron's visit.

Clear French support

The document on a strategic partnership to be signed by Plenković and Macron underlines France's clear support to Croatia's accession to the euro area as well as the Schengen area. France also supports Croatia's admission to the OECD, the Croatian source said.

The idea behind the new agreement on strategic partnership is for Croatia to "become a privileged partner to France in this part of Europe," the source said.

The other elements of the strategic partnership refer to economic relations and cultural, scientific, academic, and administrative cooperation.

Croatia is one of the two EU members, the other being Hungary, which Macron has still not visited since the start of his presidential term.

The French president will end his visit with a dinner, to be organized for members of Croatia's public, cultural, scientific and sports life, after which on Thursday afternoon he travels to Rome, where he will sign an agreement on strategic partnership with Italy, while on Friday he is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

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ZAGREB, 18 Nov 2021 - French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Croatia on 24 and 25 November, the Elysée Palace announced in a press release on Thursday. 

Macron will be the first French head of state to pay an official visit to Zagreb since Croatia gained independence in 1991.

During the visit, the two countries are set to sign a strategic partnership and an agreement on the procurement of French Rafale aircraft for the Croatian Air Force.

In May, the Croatian government announced its intention to purchase 12 Rafale multipurpose fighter jets to upgrade its Air Force, and the AFP news agency described this as the biggest procurement of weaponry by Croatia since its independence.

In September, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that "security-wise, the purchase of (French) military aircraft strategically changes the way Croatia is perceived as it is about to significantly change its status in military terms."

So far in his presidential term, Macron has visited all EU member states, except Croatia and Hungary.

After Zagreb, the French president will fly to Italy and the Vatican.

 France takes over the EU presidency from Slovenia on 1 January 2022.

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ZAGREB, 29 Aug, 2021 - French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the most important European politicians, will pay a working visit to Croatia, the Jutarnji List daily reports in its Sunday issue.

Even though the exact date of the visit has still not been agreed, it is expected to happen sometime in October or November, a high source at the Foreign Ministry has told the daily.

The visit is seen by Zagreb as proof of increasingly strong ties between France and Croatia, which could be described as a strategic partnership, particularly since the Croatian Air Force decided to buy French-made Rafale combat jet, the daily says.

A close associate to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has said that Croatian-French relations have been increasingly good, even though that was not so at the beginning.

"In the early 1990s, the then French President Francois Mitterrand supported the Serb side in the wars in ex-Yugoslavia but Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppé  pursued a more balanced policy. We now have very good bilateral relations, partly also owing to the close relationship between PM Plenković and President Macron," the associate said.

"The visit is expected to help deepen the economic cooperation between France and Croatia and the talks will also definitely focus on the EU's strategic policy. France is not very much in favour of EU enlargement but it has slightly modified its position, thanks to PM Plenković's engagement, and now it supports in principle the accession of Western Balkan countries, naturally, within a reasonable time," the official said.

PM Plenković said earlier this week that "security-wise, the purchase of (French) military aircraft strategically changes the way Croatia is perceived as it is about to significantly change its status in military terms." France is leading the process of strengthening European defence, in which, judging by Plenković's statements, Croatia will be given an important role, Jutarnji List says.

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ZAGREB, 9 June, 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that the 2022 French presidential election would be crucial for the "European story" and that he hoped Emmanuel Macron would be re-elected.

The French president was slapped by a man from a welcoming crowd during a visit to the south of France on Tuesday, as shown by video footage of the incident.

Milanović described the incident as "bizarre," saying that it was "unbelievable that security allowed that person into that area."

"This only shows that next year in European politics will be cursed because Macron is going for re-election. I would like him to win, rather than Le Pen and that generally claustrophobic and nervous policy of suspecting everyone who is not white and Christian, and unfortunately European policy has turned into that," Milanović said in response to questions from the press during a visit to the northern island of Krk.

"In Germany, whoever wins in September will more or less continue the present policy, which is moderate and well-balanced, while things in France are a bit different," the Croatian president said.

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