“In October, Croatia will organize a meeting at the summit of Southeast Europe and Ukraine in Dubrovnik in order to provide full support to that attacked country,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“The main purpose of the summit,” Andrej Plenković said, “is to show solidarity and support for Ukraine by a group of countries that have historical ties with the Ukrainian people.”
“We want to support them in their efforts for freedom and territorial integrity, but we also want to see how we can ensure that the Ukrainian economy functions well in circumstances that are often very difficult,” he said.
In mid-September, the head of the Croatian government visited Kiev for the third time since the beginning of the Russian aggression in February 2022, and then, in a conversation with President Zelenski, the agreement to organize the third summit meeting of Ukraine and Southeast European countries was confirmed in Dubrovnik.
Plenković reiterated that Croatia will continue to provide continuous political, economic, humanitarian and military support to the Ukrainian people.
He added that at the European level, Croatia participated in the decision to provide aid worth 50 billion euros over the next four years.
“This is support that really helps Ukraine to function at a time when most of its resources are directed to defense and the army,” he added.
Putin inadvertently became the biggest promoter of EU enlargement
Referring to the EU enlargement process, Plenković assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin inadvertently became the biggest catalyst for the expansion of the European Union after his country attacked Ukraine in 2022.
“During the last two and a half years, we have seen a strategic turn in European capitals, which are more open to expansion to the six countries of Southeast Europe, but also to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” Plenković said.
“I believe that Vladimir Putin was the biggest promoter of enlargement,” he added.
In June, the EU agreed to open negotiations with Ukraine and its smaller neighbor Moldova on membership in the European bloc.
Earlier this year, EU leaders also agreed to open talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeking to draw it closer to Europe and counter growing Russian influence, while five other Western Balkan countries are in various stages of the accession process.
“In the next five years, especially during the mandate of the new European Commission, it will be interesting to see how each of them will progress and meet the criteria,” Plenković said, and added:” We are always ready to support the progress of our neighbors.”
“We are particularly willing to help Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, thanks to our initiative, received a decision to start accession negotiations. We hope that this country, which is Croatia’s natural closest ally, will quickly advance towards the European Union,” he added.
Plenković continued saying that we advise Belgrade and Priština to continue the dialogue, emphasizing the key role of the USA and the EU in this matter.
Elections in America
Asked how the outcome of the American presidential elections will affect the European Union and his country, the prime minister asserted that Croatia has worked well with different American administrations.
“We cooperated well with the administration of former President Trump and President Biden, and it depends on the American people what they will decide,” Plenković said.
He considers it important that after the elections in November, democracy in the USA is strengthened because everyone is watching what is happening in America, recalling that, unfortunately, after the previous elections, democracy in America was weakened.
“We expect a democratic process and a smooth transition, whatever it may be, depending on the decision of the American people,” Plenković said.
Source: HRT
Source link : https://glashrvatske.hrt.hr/en/foreign/plenkovic-announces-summit-for-ukraine-in-dubrovnik-11784186
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Publish date : 2024-09-30 16:56:12
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