The president of Croatia's ORaH party, Antun Petrovic, and the international secretary of the German Greens, Jamila Schaefer, said on Thursday it was extremely important that climate change remained a priority in chairing the European Union in 2020.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Petrovic said he hoped that “A Europe that protects”, one of the four key areas on which, according to the government, the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU will be based, meant protection of the environment, climate and human rights, and not the external border, ORaH said in a press release.

The two parties expect the Croatian and German governments to continue next year the trend set by Finland during its presidency and set climate change as one of their EU presidency priorities.

ORaH said Schaefer arrived in Croatia to discuss cooperation, but also to check the human rights situation in the wake of reports of inappropriate police treatment of migrants on the border.

The common task of the EU is that the governments of all member states protect human rights and check all credible reports on violations, Schaefer said.

She warned that climate change knew no national borders and that slowing it down required coordinated action by all European countries, ORaH said.