ZAGREB, August 28, 2018 – Croatia and Germany will soon sign an action plan on strengthening political, economic and cultural relations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the visiting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Berlin on Tuesday.
“The action plan is being prepared and we are hammering out the details,” Merkel said after the talks with Plenković.
The document is likely to be signed at a ministerial level in the coming months, according to Plenković. “We want to use good relations between our two countries so as to ensure that they assume a new structure on the political, economic and cultural plan,” Plenković said.
The German chancellor supported Croatia’s aspirations to enter the passport-free Schengen Zone. I believe that we are going in the good direction and Germany very positively perceives Croatia’s aspirations to join the Schengen area, she added.
When it comes to possibilities of changing borders in the Balkans, Croatia is cautious as this could have an impact on the neighbourhood, the Croatian prime minister said.
Merkel, who has recently reiterated that there has been no need to change the borderlines in the western Balkan region, agreed with Plenković’s statement.
Before his meeting with Merkel, the Croatian prime minister held talks with officials of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
On Tuesday afternoon, Plenković will tour the Axel Springer publishing house that publishes the Bild newspaper. He will also give a lecture on Croatia and the EU at the Konrad Adenauer foundation.
