Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 6 February 2018 - Strasbourg

Debate with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, on the Future of Europe (debate)

  Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia. – Mr President, thank you very much for this opportunity. I see that voting time is approaching, so the plenary is filling up a little more than in the hours before, but that is absolutely normal and to be expected.

First of all, let me conclude with some general remarks. Your initiative of holding a debate here in plenary in Strasbourg with the prime ministers or heads of state or government of the EU Member States on the future of Europe is really useful and timely, and it will contribute to the strategic decisions which are ahead of us.

I feel enriched by your comments. I feel more up to date in terms of the direction that the political parties in the European Parliament are taking. That is very important for me, because, being fully occupied at national level, sometimes we do not fully grasp the trends at European level.

There were several comments in the last round of questions, one of them on the cohesion policy and implementing measures, which Ivana has just mentioned. I think that for Croatia, which is undergoing a first seven-year multiannual financial framework, the experience is critical with a view to improvement for the next seven years. And you have been working on this issue as closely as anyone here in this forum, Ivana.

What I would like to see is swifter absorption, clearer competences, a procedure that is transparent and efficient, and that finally EU financing is more visible, clearer and more recognisable for Croatian citizens. Therefore, we shall urge, at European level and at national level, the adoption of the new legislative mechanisms that are tending in that direction.

The comments made by Alojz are basically along the same lines as those of all the Slovenian colleagues. I think I have addressed this issue adequately. My message is clear. The open issues which exist among Member States should be resolved by negotiations, and by using various instruments of international dispute settlement, notably peaceful ones. We believe that these processes should be credible and clean, and that is the only way for the results to be accepted and implemented. This is the key message.

Croatia has no ambition to stall or make more difficult our neighbours’ path to the EU. On the contrary, we have been very much a bridge, an influencing country that has unselfishly offered all the experience which is most recent, and thus most relevant for their path to the European Union – trying to address the questions that were mentioned by some of the Members.

I am also grateful that the only MEP still serving from the first directly elected Parliament, my friend Elmar, took the floor and mentioned the concept of equality and the representation in this House. I think that the right balance needs to be struck. It is not as easy for those national delegations which are less numerous to cover all the work of such big and important institutions. I know for a fact that smaller and bigger countries sometimes lose sight of one another’s viewpoints because we do not really understand the other’s concerns.

The Croatian Government that I head is, as you know, a reformist government, a government which will do its utmost to make my country part of the inner circle – Schengen, the eurozone and various other forms of enhanced cooperation – and to strengthen our own internal institutions and our European credibility and responsibility. In that respect, dialogue with the European Parliament will be something that we will take into account and take on board when preparing our presidency of the Council, which is envisaged for the first semester of 2020.

I thank you all very much for this opportunity. It has been a pleasure to be back with you in Strasbourg. I think that, in this parliamentary term, the European Parliament has done a lot in terms of important and relevant legislative acts of the European Union with long-term consequences.

(Applause)