First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić said after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council that opening the Iranian market was appealing to Croatian companies as well as an interesting venue for investments, and that Iran was a country that could potentially invest in Croatia too. “When I was in Iran earlier this year, I kept bumping into representatives of various European companies who, hopeful that the talks would be a success, were already out there. Representatives of some of our companies have also established contacts, but now a much wider spectrum for economic cooperation with Iran has been opened up. This is a great opportunity for the relations with Iran in general to turn from conflict to cooperation,” Pusić said.
The EU foreign ministers also discussed the agreement in Macedonia, while Commissioner Hahn presented his proposal. “The proposal includes a national salvation government of sorts, i.e. the opposition entering the government in September or October. The opposition is to return to the parliament in September and then join the government in October. Hundred days before the elections, mid-April 2016, PM Gruevski and the entire government resign and the elections are prepared. This is an agreement that has been reached with Macedonia and which all member states have backed,” Pusić said, adding that first all of that had to be implemented and the elections held. “The FAC believes that is all goes in accordance with the agreement, then Macedonia and its citizens could see Euro-Atlantic integration at the end of that road.”
Asked whether that meant Greece was willing to lift the blockade, Pusić said: “I can’t speak for other countries. I can only reiterate what has been said at the meeting. Two member states thought we should consider other elements such as good-neighbourly relations etc. I think Macedonia should seize this opportunity. The climate is such that if Macedonia were able to implement the agreement, then there is a positive attitude towards unblocking the position the country has been in for years.”
The ministers also discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina and strongly supported the signing of a written agreement and obligation all sides in BiH should assume in regard to implementing the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and insist that Milorad Dodik’s party from the Republika Srpska does the same in order for BiH to get back on the European path, which has been completely blocked for five years, Pusić said. “On the other hand, Dodik’s referendum on the judicial government would jeopardize the Dayton Agreement and all it stands for and everyone agreed the idea should be scrapped. The entire EU agrees that such a referendum and breaking the rules of the Dayton Agreement would cause further difficulties at this moment.”