The government on Thursday officially proclaimed all activities related to Croatia's EU chairmanship in the first half of 2020 to be projects of "special significance", and decided that the six-month chairmanship would be headquartered at the National University Library in Zagreb.
“Considering that there is less than two years to prepare for this demanding and extensive project, it is necessary to urgently decide on several strategic, operational, and logistics issues,” government’s press release said.
The Foreign Ministry will coordinate all activities related to the preparation and implementation of the chairmanship, and the decision means that anything to do with those preparations would take priority in state administration.
“This is the biggest undertaking for the state administration in the history of modern Croatia,” Foreign Minister, Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, said.
A special council will be set up to serve as an umbrella body for all the preparations involved, with prime minister acting as its head.
It is expected that during Croatia’s chairmanship from January to June 2020 about 1,400 various meetings at all levels in Brussels will take place. In addition, Croatia will hold at least one summit of heads of states and governments of all EU member states, about 20 meetings and conferences at the ministerial level, and 200-250 other minor meetings.
“That is on average 12-13 meetings every day that Croatia will preside over. So much about the complexity of that job,” Pejcinovic-Buric added.
During the chairmanship of the Council of the EU, countries usually designate one central congress centre where most high-level meetings are held, in addition to several other locations used for expert meetings. As Croatia currently does not have a single suitable venue, the congress centre planned in 2007 but never completed, which is part of the National University Library complex in Zagreb, will be finished and equipped for that purpose.
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