Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who represented his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic at the latest EU summit meeting said on Friday that they were in constant contact and that Plenkovic spent the night awake with his counterparts even though he is suffering from Covid-19.

“I was in constant contact with Plenkovic. He also spent the night awake despite being on sick leave in fact,” Jansa told a press conference at the conclusion of the EU summit.

He added that he intervened on behalf of Croatia with regard to climate change and that he had consulted with Plenkovic on that issue.

As far as other issues are concerned, Jansa said that the “our ambassadors had already prepared the job so that our draft conclusions were in accordance with our position.”

The two-day EU summit began on Thursday at 1 pm and ended on Friday afternoon after 20 hours of uninterupted sitting. Most of the time was spent on reaching an agreement on climate objectives.

Apart from Plenkovic also Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas was not present in Brussels, after he was apparently in contact with someone infected with coronavirus. He was represented by his Latvian counterpart Krijsanis Karin.

After consulting with his doctor, Plenkovic, who tested positive for coronavirus in late November, extended self-isolation due to a cough caused by Covid-19.

Plenkovic initially asked President Zoran Milanovic to represent him at the summit however Milanovic refused because of the subject matter that was going to be discussed at the summit. The two officials then agreed that Janez Jansa could represent Croatia which Jansa accepted.