ZAGREB, June 26, 2019 – Croatia has done a good job regarding the candidacy of its Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday.
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of 324 representatives of the national parliaments of 47 member states, will elect a new Secretary General to a term of five years by secret ballot on Wednesday evening. They will choose between Pejčinović Burić and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to succeed Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Parliament Speaker of Norway.
“We’ve done a good job regarding the campaign”, Plenković told the public broadcaster HRT on Wednesday morning. “It is very uncertain. I think we did all we could and already now we got an important plus and respect for both the country and our candidate,” he added.
He said that Croatia had made a good impression during its six-month chairmanship of this organisation last year. “I think we earned the image of a country that can make a contribution.”
The results of the vote are expected around 9pm.
If elected, Pejčinović Burić would be the second woman in history at the organisation’s helm and the first person from Central and Southeastern Europe to fill this position, Plenković said.
Croatia joined the Council of Europe in 1996, and the new Secretary General is due to take office on October 15.
More news about Marija Pejčinović Burić can be found in the Politics section.
