“The topic of special interest to Croatia was Switzerland’s referendum on imposing quotas on immigrant workers from the EU because, as the newest member state, Croatia has not yet begun to implement that right,” commented Minister Pusić one of the topics of the General Affairs Council. “The problem is twofold: on the one hand, there’s restricting the freedom of movement, one of the fundamental pillars of the EU and in the eyes of its citizens perhaps the most important freedom; on the other, there’s discrimination against member states i.e. different treatment for Croatian citizens. The EU member states took a very clear position that they would not allow discrimination against EU citizens. The EU-Swiss relations are regulated with a number of mutually intertwined agreements and violating one of those agreements can lead to the annulment of others,” Pusić said.
Pusić informed her colleagues in the General Affairs Council in Brussels on Tuesday about the damage caused by recent harsh winter conditions Gorski Kotar. “A task force consisting of representatives of the ministries and services in charge of assessing the damage would hold its first meeting on Wednesday. Depending on the task force's estimates, Croatia will approach the EU Solidarity Fund," Pusić said. An EU member state has 10 weeks from a natural disaster to apply for compensation.
The longest GAC discussion concerned allowing the planting of GMO corn in member states. Pusić said that since neither the majority of states nor the majority of citizens were for/against, the double qualified majority has not been achieved. “The decision was neither reached nor stopped,” Pusić said, adding that the majority of member states were in fact against GMO corn. “Croatia has opposed the decision as we believe there were insufficient mechanisms for protecting subsidiarity, or to put it simply – not enough mechanism that guarantee each country independent decision making in regard to GMO corn. For lack of a double qualified majority, the decision has been left to the Commission,” she said.
The meeting also saw the presentation of Greek presidency’s program. “Here we primarily supported maritime orientation and topics concerning maritime affairs. Also extremely important for Croatia is the issue of migration and employment, notably the youth employment program combined with stimulating small and medium sized companies,” Pusić said.