Important meeting for the two neighbouring countries coming next week.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić will meet on Monday in Croatia and Serbia to sign a political declaration “of exceptional importance”, that will cover issues of minorities, missing persons, borders and succession, it was announced on Friday from the Office of the President, which emphasizes that there was a desire on both sides to move forward in the relationship between the two countries, reports Index.hr on June 17, 2016.
The President and the Prime Minister will meet on Monday, first near Vukovar in Croatia, and then later in the afternoon in Vojvodina in Serbia. They will sign a political declaration on improving relations and resolving outstanding issues, which is a strong “expression of political will”.
The sources stress that the meeting has been agreed directly between the President and the Prime Minister, without intermediary activities of any party. “There were no external factors in arranging the meeting, which was agreed on the mutual initiative”, sources stressed.
Due to the interesting political timing, both in Croatia where the government collapsed, and in Serbia where the government has not yet been formed after the recent elections, the Office of the President stresses that the meeting has been in preparation for a long time and has nothing to do with current political situation.
“Croatia from only benefit for this and that is our first and only goal. We should move away from open issues and lay the foundation of goodwill among political factors on both sides”, said the Office.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, for whom this will be the first visit to Serbia as President, and Vučić will sign a political declaration which has no binding character, but carries an important political message to the public and the international community.
It is interesting that the President will sign this declaration not with her Serbian counterpart, but with Serbia’s Prime Minister. Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković was dismissed from his post on Thursday and is currently a caretaker Prime Minister.
Another issue is who will represent Croatia at a European Council meeting later this month. Although so far it was always a prime minister who would attend such meetings, due to the latest events it is possible there will be changes. Depending on the position of Prime Minister Orešković, it should be known next week who will represent Croatia at the meeting on 28 and 29 June.
Under the Constitution, Croatia is represented in the EU by both the President and Prime Minister.
