ZAGREB, June 13, 2018 – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Wednesday she wanted to contribute to Croatia’s upcoming chairing of the European Union instead of leaving the whole job to the government.
Under its constitution, Croatia is represented in the European Council by the president and the government, she told Croatian reporters covering her visit to Brussels. “I primarily leave the whole job regarding the European Union to the prime minister because that is something he is mainly involved in on a daily basis, but I too wish to contribute to the creation of the chairmanship because that is a matter of joint powers, notably when it comes to national security, immigration and all other foreign policy issues. I am confident we will cooperate. The government has the capacities and the know-how to lead this process, primarily in terms of technical details and policies. That’s something I won’t interfere in and will respect,” she said after talks with European Council President Donald Tusk.
During her two-day visit, she is also scheduled to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Grabar-Kitarović said she spoke to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković yesterday about her Brussels trip. “My delegation includes Zdravka Bušić, the state secretary at the Foreign Ministry, who represents the government and we always inform the government of what we talked about.”
The president said she and Tusk talked about EU priorities and preparations for Croatia’s chairing of the EU in the first half of 2020. She said it was very important that Croatia retain the same level of financing in the EU’s next multi annual budget, notably regarding the cohesion and agriculture policies. She added that national co-financing of projects should not be increased from 15 to 30%, as proposed by the Commission. “In Croatia we already have problems with project realisation because money can’t be secured, notably by local government.”
Grabar-Kitarović told Tusk she was concerned about new migration trends and the new routes opening southeast of Croatia. She said it would not be fair to rely only on the member states on the EU’s external borders and that everyone should participate in solidarity.
They also talked about Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the president regretting that no progress had been made in amending its election legislation.
She welcomed an agreement between Athens and Skopje on Macedonia’s name, voicing hope that the country would be able to begin EU accession negotiations soon, together with Albania.
Grabar-Kitarović said all issues with neighbours should be solved, including those with Serbia, as soon as possible and in parallel with the European integration process. Any interference by European institutions in Croatia’s border dispute with Slovenia would be counter-productive as that is a bilateral issue, she added.
Asked if she and Tusk talked about football and if she would attend the 2018 FIFA World Cup, given that some members of the European Parliament have proposed that heads of member states should not attend in the wake of sanctions against Russia, Grabar-Kitarović said sports and politics should not be mixed.
She also voiced hope that a settlement for the Agrokor conglomerate would succeed, and said she had not yet discussed her population measures with Plenković, who has said he’s not had the time to read them yet. “We agreed to talk in the days ahead and I will give him time to examine them because it is not a small document, especially since it doesn’t refer only to population policy measures but economic, social and other measures which make up a package which should be applied as part of a comprehensive strategy which will have its action plan,” said the president.
