Greece will always be on Croatia's side and it will show its support for Croatia's entry to the Schengen area and the euro zone, the President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, said on Tuesday after meeting in Zagreb with his Croatian counterpart President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Croatia had joined the European Union in July 2013, but it is still not a member of the EU’s Schengen passport-free travel area. Its eastern borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro form the EU’s external border.

Croatia needs the support of all EU member countries for its accession to both the Schengen area and the euro zone.
Slovenia’s officials have hinted that Ljubljana might block Croatia’s entry to Schengen due to the unresolved border disputes between the two countries.

“Croatia is investing a lot of effort to protect the EU’s external borders and, once it joins the Schengen Area, it will do that even more effectively and will significantly contribute to the EU’s overall security,” said Grabar-Kitarovic.

She added that Zagreb appreciates Greece’s role in managing the migrant crisis as the first guard of the European borders.

“The Western Balkan route is still closed, but we call for constant caution because of the migrant pressure on that route,” she warned and added that it was necessary to work on resolving the fundamental causes of migrations.

President Pavlopoulos said he hoped that 2020 would be important for Croatia’s accession to the euro zone, as Croatia will chair the European Union in the first half of that year. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has on several occasions announced that year as the year to introduce the euro in Croatia which is a legal obligation for all EU member states, with the exception of Denmark and Great Britain.

Economic cooperation remains modest

Speaking about economic cooperation between the two countries, Grabar-Kitarovic said that it was fairly modest with regard to trade and investments.

“Investments are very low. Croatian investments in Greece are almost non-existent and Greece is, unfortunately, not among the 40 top investors in Croatia,” she said.

Croatia’s most exported commodities to Greece are sugar, iron and steel products, textile products, fertilisers, and medicines, while Greece’s exports to Croatia include citrus fruits, textile products, and aluminium products.

Grabar-Kitarovic said there was potential for further cooperation in tourism, as well as maritime and land transport.

The Greek president’s next meeting with Grabar-Kitarovic is set to take place in October.

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