PM Plenkovic: Croatia expects to join euro zone in 2023

He is attending a two-day EU summit which today will include a euro zone summit.

"That's an opportunity for me to once again state our willingness to meet all the criteria and, after entering the Exchange Rate Mechanism last year, to meet the action plan and create the prerequisites for Croatia to become a member of the euro zone during 2023, hopefully at the beginning," Plenkovic told reporters.

At the euro zone summit, he said, he will present the timetable Croatia expects regarding accession "given all the achievements in implementing the euro introduction strategy since 2018."

Member states' leaders began the second day of the EU summit by discussing economic recovery from the effects of the pandemic.

Plenkovic said he expected the Commission to approve Croatia's recovery and resilience plan in July, after which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would come to Zagreb to personally give the Commission's green light for the €6.3 billion grant plan.