Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic declared on Thursday at the congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Bucharest that he would speak again as prime minister of Croatia at the next Congress of this leading political group in the European Parliament.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Croatia this spring, ahead of the Elections for the European Parliament scheduled for 6-9 June. Plenkovic said he was confident that his HDZ party would win the parliamentary elections.

“This is the time when we ask our citizens for the third time to put their trust in our agenda, our values and our achievements,” Plenkovic told EPP representatives at the congress.

I assure you that we will meet again at the next Congress during the third term of my cabinet, Plenkovic said in his speech.

Plenkovic conveyed the message to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that she can expect the Commission to present a favourable report on Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the next European Council will give the green light for the opening of accession negotiations with this aspirant.

The Croatian prime minister said that Romania and Bulgaria can count on his country’s support in their applications for membership of the Schengen area and the eurozone.

He assured Ukraine that it could count on Croatia’s financial, humanitarian and military support in its efforts to defeat Russia.

83 parties from 44 countries are represented in the EPP.

The EPP is the strongest political group in the current European Parliament and its member Roberta Metsola is President of the EP.

The current heads of state and government of Romania, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Finland, Luxembourg and Cyprus belong to the EPP. Bulgaria’s next heads of government will also come from this group.