The Council of Europe summit in Brussels, attended by Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, will end on Friday (March 23).
“As far as the morning part of the meeting is concerned, two topics are relevant for Croatia. The first one is the matter of trade, a deal has been reached with the United States. American administration introduced exemptions for (tariffs on) aluminium and steel imports, and this prevented negative effects of the decision they made a few weeks ago. We feel this is a positive decision which leaves enough room to negotiators to reach a deal acceptable to both sides,” Plenković told reporters after the morning part of the meeting.
“The second topic were reports presented by negotiators dealing with Brexit. We have been briefed on the progress made in three areas – citizens’ rights, financial obligations and the part related to Northern Ireland. New guidelines have been adopted, and the issue will be discussed again in June,” Plenković added.
In the summit, Plenković had met with British PM Theresa May. Earlier this month the UK agreed to lift work permit restrictions for Croatian citizens.
“I am very pleased to see that the UK decided to remove restrictions for Croatian citizens on June 30. And the Croatian government made the same decision yesterday based on reciprocity. Regardless of Brexit, Croatian citizens will have the same rights as all other citizens of the UK. I think this is a very good success for Croatia,” Plenković said.
Opposition MP Pedja Grbin (SDP) remarked in parliament on Friday that Croatia has a “dualism” in its foreign policy, referring to mixed signals towards Russia sent by Prime Minister Plenković and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
Earlier this week, the European Council, attended by Prime Minister Plenković, supported British PM Theresa May’s claims that Russia was responsible for the recent nerve gas attack in Salisbury, while at the same time President Grabar-Kitarović congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election victory and invited him to visit Croatia.
“We are here at a multilateral summit. The Salisbury attack was highly unusual and unacceptable. These are not things that any of our partners or allies can comment on, security-wise. That’s our common stance. Like all heads of state and prime ministers here I expressed solidarity and I have no dilemmas about that,” Plenković said.
“The continuity of dialogue that President (Grabar-Kitarović) has (with Putin) is independent of this process, it is primarily the result of their previous talks. That’s the context in which I interpreted their phone call,” Plenković added.
