Minister of Foreign and European Affairs told the Croatian Television on Friday that the declaration of Croatia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Adriatic was a historical moment.
"This is a historical decision, a great success for the government, MPs and Croatia as a whole. Fishermen have been waiting 30 years for the EEZ. One has to bear in mind that this was in Croatia’s strategic interest,” Grlić Radman said.
The minister underlined that the Adriatic was ecologically vulnerable.
"We have to take an integrated approach to environmental protection, risk avoidance and sustainable development, keeping in mind how important blue economy is to us. The difference between the ZERP (Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone) and the EEZ is that the latter is a better format and allows for a more orderly approach to the regulation of relations between coastal states,” Grlić Radman explained.
Slovenia involved too
The minister recalled that the ZERP had been protecting the Adriatic for quite some time too.
"We have been waiting and talking to the neighbours about how to increase the level of protection in the Adriatic. Italy and Croatia have involved Slovenia, even though we didn’t need to, in order to jointly advance governance rights and work on protecting the Adriatic and opening up new possibilities of resource usage,” said Grlić Radman.