Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman 22 January 2020 in Brussels presented the priorities of Croatia’s Council of the EU presidency to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
Grlić Radman outlined the programme and four focal topics of Croatia’s six-month presidency, after which he responded to questions by the Committee members.
The minister underlined that Croatia, in line with the first priority of “Europe That Develops”, would push for a balanced, sustainable and inclusive development of the EU that takes into account the needs of all its member states, their regions and citizens.
“We want to place emphasis on additional development of the single market and boosting competitiveness to promote high added value investments, digitalization and entrepreneurship,” Grlić Radman said.
He underscored that Croatia also wanted to find a solution to the demographic challenges in light of economic and development inequalities by opening a comprehensive discussion on the views and best practices of the EU member states.
“We are committed to launching horizontal debates on the main initiatives within the Green Deal. Croatia firmly believes that a future-oriented Europe has to have a leading global role in responding to the growing challenge of climate change,” Grlić Radman stressed.
Conclusively, the minister expressed desire that the topics we had jointly launched with the EESC contribute to reflecting on the future of the European project within the Conference on the Future of Europe. He thanked the EESC for contributing to the consolidation of the EU’s democratic legitimacy, as the Committee provides a platform for the citizens, associations and civil society organizations to voice their views on a European level.