(Hina) - The European Union has shown a number of times that crises can make it stronger, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said at the European Forum Wachau 2016 at the Benedictine monastery Goettweig, Austria, on Saturday.
The founders of the EU were proud of their countries' accomplishments but they opted for a common future, Kovač said at the forum's plenary session that was attended, apart from the event's hosts, also by Romanian and Bulgarian Foreign Ministers Lazar Comanescu and Daniel Mitov respectively, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.
The EU is a success story that has created peace and prosperity, Kovač concluded.
The main topic of this year's European Forum is "Europe – united in sunny times, divided in times of crisis?".
The forum is a debate event that has been held every year since 1995, when Austria joined the EU.