State Secretary for Europe Andreja Metelko-Zgombić chaired the MED9 meeting of ministers and state secretaries for European affairs, held in Trogir on 1 October. The meeting was held as part of Croatia’s first presidency of the informal group of nine southern EU Member States, which Croatia joined in 2021. Alongside Croatia, MED9 comprises Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The key priorities of the Croatian presidency, pursued through a series of sectoral ministerial meetings held to date, have focused on building a safer, more sustainable and more resilient Mediterranean.
During the first discussion, ministers and state secretaries exchanged views on current European issues ahead of the European Council meeting on 15-16 October, including the geopolitical situation in Europe and the Mediterranean, the Union’s external action, further strengthening European competitiveness, security and resilience, and climate challenges. Particular emphasis was placed on the future EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, with negotiations entering a crucial phase. For Croatia, the main priorities are Cohesion Policy, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, which Croatia considers to also contribute to strengthening Europe’s overall competitiveness and security, particularly food security. Croatia therefore strongly advocates securing sufficient funding for these three fundamental European policies in the future MFF, at a minimum at the level of the current budget. The State Secretary also stressed the importance of facilitating access to funding from the European Competitiveness Fund for entities across the EU, as well as ensuring adequate funding for the Union’s external action, including instruments targeting the Mediterranean and the external dimension of migration. Croatia attaches particular importance to EU enlargement and ensuring visible and adequate pre-accession assistance, especially for the Western Balkan countries, which must remain based on merit and fulfilment of all reform and political criteria.
European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica took part in the discussion as a special guest and stressed that the Mediterranean is no longer merely an area of crises, but also a region offering many important strategic opportunities for the EU and its Member States, particularly through the implementation of the Pact for the Mediterranean.
The second part of the meeting focused on the geopolitical and security aspects of EU enlargement, with Daniel Markić, Director of the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN), participating as a special guest. The discussion highlighted the need for enlargement to serve as a strategic investment in Europe’s security, stability and prosperity, addressed security issues linked to the enlargement process itself, and explored how to ensure that security risks are not imported into the Union.
Metelko-Zgombić stressed that the enlargement process has economic, political and security dimensions, and that enlargement itself, together with the negotiations that precede accession, is one of the most important geopolitical and security instruments at the European Union’s disposal.
Geopolitical circumstances can provide an impetus for candidate countries to transform into stable, functional democratic societies based on the rule of law and respect for European values and good-neighbourly relations. However, they cannot substitute for the implementation of the necessary reforms or for the transformation required of candidate countries throughout the accession process.
The resilience of the Union and candidate countries to hybrid threats must be strengthened, including against foreign information manipulation and interference, whether candidate countries are themselves targets of foreign interference or are sources of hybrid threats or facilitate certain threats. It is particularly important that enlargement makes the European Union stronger and more resilient.
The meeting confirmed a high degree of convergence among MED9 members on key strategic issues at EU level, shared interests in strengthening the Mediterranean dimension of European policies, and a readiness to continue close and open political dialogue.
The final event of Croatia’s MED9 presidency will be the MED9 Summit, to be held in Split on 7 October under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković.
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