“We don’t perceive the EU as a solution to all our problems, but as an organized framework within which we act. Croatia has the ‘instructions’ that it is ready to share with the region, and one of the ways to do so is through the Centre of Excellence, which has already started seminars for civil officials at which knowledge and experience in various areas is shared, from judiciary to border management,” Pusić said.
Advocating further enlargement, she said it “has always been a reaffirmation of fundamental European and democratic values,” adding that Croatia was willing to continue assisting its neighbours as stability of the region is in Croatia’s vital interest as well.
Pusić noted the different circumstances within the EU at the time when Croatia was starting the negotiation and now, when it is in the final stages of accession. “The key figures then were Havel, Michnik and Geremek, and now the key figure is a banker - Mario Draghi,” she said. “That maybe makes us less enthusiastic about the EU, but makes us more responsible for the decisions we make,” she added.
The Croatian foreign minister also talked about the bilateral relations between Croatia and Spain, two Mediterranean countries that in the future will have an even greater potential for cooperation, namely in energy, transport, tourism and the environment. Also, both countries are interested in cooperation in the Southern Mediterranean.
The questions that followed Pusić’s address mostly pertained to the situation in the EU and the euro zone, and what would be Croatia’s solution to these problems.
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