Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday dismissed speculation that former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's attendance at a meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation was a sign that her possible candidacy in the upcoming presidential election was being discussed.

Grabar-Kitarovic sat next to Plenkovic in the first row at the meeting, which was held at Zagreb’s Westin Hotel, but when asked by a journalist about this, he said that they had sat next to each other more than once, and that the reason for her presence at the event was that she had launched the Three Seas Initiative during her term in office and that she cooperated with international organisations.

Grabar-Kitarovic served as President for one term, 2015-2020, but lost her reelection bid to incumbent President Zoran Milanovic in the spring of 2020.

When asked if her appearance at the event meant that they had started discussions on the possibility of her being the Croatian Democratic Union’s (HDZ) presidential candidate again, he said: “There are no other connotations than today’s conference. We did not talk about anything regarding that topic,” Plenkovic said.

The next presidential election in Croatia is predicted to be held in late 2024. President Zoran Milanovic, who beat Grabar-Kitarovic in 2020, is expected to seek reelection, but no other figures have announced their candidacy so far.