Minister Pusić: Croatia NATO’s reliable, strategic partner

The second day of the NATO summit in Wales, leaders of member countries adopted at a Readiness Action Plan (RAP), which envisages the formation of rapid reaction forces

The second day of the NATO summit in Wales, leaders of member countries adopted at a Readiness Action Plan (RAP), which envisages the formation of rapid reaction forces capable of deploying quickly in the member countries' territory in case of security threats. The summit also confirmed NATO's open door policy, which means the alliance will continue with enlargement.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić said that Croatia’s geographical position, given the situation in the Eastern, Southern and Southeastern Neighbourhood, gave Croatia added value, not only in the sense of readiness and defence capability in the region, but in the defence of the alliance as well. She also said that Croatia had been recognized as a reliably and strategically positioned partner when it came to Eastern Neighbourhood as well as the terrorism in the Southern Neighbourhood.

Asked about whether possible additional sanctions against Russia could affect Croatia, Pusić told the press that the new list of subjects that would come under sanctions had not been finalized yet.

Pusić said there was no talk about the possibility of Croatia sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but that the meeting did discuss Croatia’s defence readiness and its role in stabilizing the region.

Speaking about Montenegro’s NATO membership, the minister said Croatia considered Montenegro ready and that is it carried on with the reforms, the decision would be reached by consensus, following an initiative by South and Southeast European countries. “NATO is a very important political and military alliance, and some were of the opinion that it should be postponed for next year instead of doing it now, which was also one of the options,” Pusić said.  

Press releases