It’s important to Croatia and other Friends of Cohesion countries that the new EU budget for toe period 2021-2027 provides sufficient funding for their development as EU members, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Bratislava on Thursday.

The Friends of Cohesion, an informal group of 15 EU member states that are opposed to a reduction of cohesion funds in the new EU budget, met in Bratislava on Thursday to once again ask that funding not be reduced for poorer countries that need to be assisted in coming closer to more developed and wealthier EU members.
The new budget foresees a 6 percent cut in cohesion funds, as well as a reduction of funding for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
Croatia estimated it would be entitled to 5.6 percent less money from cohesion funds under the budget.
The group adopted a joint declaration setting out their priorities.
“Today’s meeting of the Friends of Cohesion is an important message ahead of the European Council. Cohesion policy and CAP mean a lot to our countries: for reducing inequalities in society, for a better and more balanced regional development, and for catching up with older EU member states,” Plenkovic said after the meeting.
Croatia is the youngest member and that it needs more time to catch up with other countries, he added.
The joint declaration comes two weeks ahead of the EU summit in Brussels that will discuss the new budget.
In the declaration, the countries said the cohesion policy and common agricultural policy have to remain at the 2014-2020 budget level.
Sufficient funding is required for real convergence, growth, jobs, investments and competitiveness within the Union, but also the Union on the global market, and at the same time for the fight against inequalities within and between member states, they said.
Apart from needing to catch up with old and wealthier EU member states, Croatia also needs to catch up to new members.
“The thing that I have in particular emphasised is that Croatia, compared to other members of the Cohesion group, is the youngest EU member state, with only five years of membership. We need at least two financial cycles to catch up to other members in Central and Eastern Europe,” Plenkovic said.
“The European budget has to secure sufficient funding for security and defence, the fight against terrorism, climate change, sustainable transport, research and development, digitisation, migration, and to strengthen Europe’s external activities,” Plenkovic concluded.
As far as negotiations on the new financial perspective are concerned, Plenkovic said he was sceptical that they can be completed by the European parliamentary election in May next year.