Croatia will have a great presidency of the Council of the European Union, Finnish Ambassador Risto Piipponen said on Tuesday.

Croatia takes this job very seriously, like the presidency should be taken, naturally, he told Hina ahead of his talk on Finland’s presidency of the Council of the EU at Dverce palace.

Since I know many of the people who are in charge of those preparations, I’m convinced that Croatia will have a great presidency, he said.

Cooperation within the EU troika (Romania, Finland, Croatia) has been very good, with many meetings at the political and the level of civil servants since early 2018, he said. After Romania ceded the presidency to Finland, active cooperation has continued with Croatia.

Meetings at the political and the level of civil servants continue to be held between Helsinki and Zagreb, the ambassador said.

Asked if it was a mistake that the EU did not open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, he said both countries deserved the negotiations to be opened but that, unfortunately, it did not happen.

However, we hope the EU will adopt a decision in the months ahead so the negotiations can be launched. That wasn’t a final ‘no’ to North Macedonia, Albania and the enlargement process, he said.