Germany fully supports Croatia's efforts to join the Schengen Area and the euro area, it was said after the meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Berlin on Wednesday.

We fully support Croatia’s efforts to achieve these goals. As a finance minister, I  closely followed developments in meeting the conditions for joining the euro area, said German Chancellor Scholz after talks with the Croatian prime minister in Berlin.

Plenkovic reiterated that Croatia’s goal was to join the Schengen Area and the euro area on January 1, next year.

The European Commission on Wednesday said that Croatia met all the convergence criteria and that it was ready to become the 20th member of the euro area as of 1 January 2023.

As for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Scholz underscored the need for the European Union to continue showing a high degree of unity in the political as well as the humanitarian sense and he thanked Croatia for its commitment to the issue.

We thank Croatia for receiving a large number of refugees from Ukraine, Scholz said.

The Croatian premier also underscored the swiftness, unity and determination of the European Union in its reaction to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, including the agreement on six packages of sanctions against Russian and the wave of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

We continue providing assistance, the Croatian prime minister said.

Croatia is supposed to play a special role in the energy independence of countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By increasing the existing capacities, we want to contribute to diversifying the supply, said Plenkovic.

Scholz said that increasing the capacities would be an important signal for countries in the region with regard to creating a greater degree of independence from Russian energy sources.

Scholz and Plenkovic talked about the continuation of the Berlin Process, the goal of which is to bring the countries of the Western Balkans closer to the European Union, and they gave their full support to those countries’ efforts for full membership.

The Croatian prime minister expressed satisfaction with the fact that Chancellor Scholz continued the activities in the Berlin process.

Both statesmen stressed the need for the negotiations between North Macedonia and the European Union on full membership to begin as soon as possible.

As for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Scholz said that influence should be exerted for the election in that country to be held, and Plenkovic expressed hope that everything would be done to hold the election in a fair atmosphere and to allow all constituent people to vote in accordance with the Dayton Agreement.

The Croatian prime minister will finish his working visit to Berlin with a meeting with representatives of Croatian emigrants at the embassy in Berlin.

In the prime minister’s delegation in Germany’s capital, there were also Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman and Finance Minister Zdravko Maric.