Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Hrvoje Marušić attended a ministerial conference held 26 and 27 June in Vienna as part of the third Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) on sustainable and inclusive growth and development of the Danube Region and macrogregional strategy management. Marušić said Croatia's priorities were economic growth, employment, and making its companies more competitive by facilitating access to capital for small and medium enterprises. Natural disaster prevention and risk management is of great interest to Croatia, notably following May's disastrous floods, he added.
Regarding the EUSDR, Marušić said Croatia was a coordinator with Bavaria in the preservation of biodoversity as well as air and soil quality and, with Baden-Wuerttemberg, in cluster and enterprise competitiveness development. “The implementation of those projects will mainly be financed from European structural funds,” he added.
Marušić held talks with Michael Linhart, Secretary General of the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs. The two officials the EU and European Commission priorities for the next five-year period, underlining the importance of harmonizing the enlargement standards with the new EU objectives, notably in climate and energy, as well as the importance of including extra-EU states in the negotiations.