In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Croatian prime minister stated that US support for Europe must remain steadfast amid political instability during the second Trump administration.
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00:0030 years after the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia is strongly backing Bosnia and Herzegovina path to the European Union.
00:18Despite the political challenges in Republika Serbska, Croatian Prime Minister Andrzej Plenković shares why European integration now matters more than ever in Europe conversation.
00:34Let me start from the enlargement. Croatia is supporting enlargement of the European Union, especially Western Balkans.
00:41Do you have the impression that Russia and China are benefiting from the delays in this process to increase its power in the region?
00:51Croatia is very much in favor of the future enlargement of the European Union, both when it comes to countries in Southeast Europe,
00:58so our immediate neighbors, but also we have been supporting Moldova and we have been supporting Ukraine as well as Georgia on their path to the European Union.
01:08You are right, the slower the process is, the more influence of other global actors in the region we have, whether it's Russia, whether it's China, whether it's some other countries,
01:19and therefore we are advocating a structured and dynamic process, process within which the countries who are now in the process of accession negotiations
01:29will completely adopt the acquis communautaire, but also undertake serious reforms in order to sustain the market pressures once they join.
01:40But also they need to fulfill the criteria. Croatia is the last country to join the EU, now almost 12 years ago.
01:47It was a tough process. We also thought we should be in earlier than we actually were, but we fulfilled all the criteria, and I think your assessment is pretty right.
01:59I understand that there are criteria, but maybe the EU should also act more quickly.
02:05The efforts that are now being made by the European Commission, especially the second commission of Ursula von der Leyen, in my view, are far more determined than it was before.
02:16Since 2013, it's been 12 years. It's two commissions without enlargement and two parliament compositions without enlargement.
02:24And I think that the mission letter this time is clearly stating that the enlargement is becoming a priority.
02:31We as Croatia would very much like to see that Bosnia and Herzegovina as our immediate neighbour, a country where Croats are constituent
02:39and people with equal rights with Bosniaks and Serbs should move towards the dynamics that other countries of the region have, and we want to help them.
02:49Last year, we brought the President of the Commission, Madame von der Leyen, at the time the Dutch Prime Minister to Sarevo, changing the mood,
02:57and finally in March last year, giving the go-ahead at the level of the European Council to open negotiations.
03:04I think now it's the time to go forward and also in this process change the electoral law in order to allow the election of legitimate representatives in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
03:15And what about Serbia?
03:17Serbia is currently undergoing a very long-lasting period of protests against the government and the President due to, let's say, unfortunate events.
03:29First, the killing in the school by a very young child, then another murder in the vicinity of Belgrade, then the fall of the cover at the train station in Novi Sad.
03:43So many unpredicted things happened which no government or state, neither Serbia or anybody else could have influenced.
03:53But these protests have now endured for much longer than before.
03:59We understand that Serbia also wants to make the path towards the European Union faster. It needs to fulfill the criteria.
04:08And we hope that there is no destabilization of the region of Southeast Europe. This is critical from our perspective.
04:17You support Serbia as well?
04:18We support all the enlargement but with the precondition that everybody fulfills the criteria.
04:24Recently it was a defense agreement between Croatia, Albania and Kosovo. Do you think that you are threatening by someone?
04:32No. This agreement was a routine agreement signed between the ministers of defense, very transparent.
04:40It's published on the website of the Croatian government. It passed the government procedure as an information.
04:46I think we only put on paper what already exists in terms of defense cooperation between the Croatian Ministry of Defense, Albanian Ministry of Defense and Kosovo Ministry of Defense.
04:56This agreement has no objective to endanger anyone. Neither did we feel threatened by anybody else.
05:03So this narrative that was echoed after this agreement was signed was in our view false and unnecessary.
05:10But I am asking you because it was also agreement between Serbia and Hungary.
05:15Yes, but Serbia and Hungary actually have the agreement in defense domain already and the only thing which was done now was the action plan in the implementation of this agreement.
05:26We don't believe that this agreement that existed before is any type of threat to Croatia.
05:32But don't you think that there is escalation in Balkans region, I mean also Republika Srpska?
05:38We are very much concerned with the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina especially in Republika Srpska when it comes to the position of President of Republika Srpska Mr. Dodik due to the legal proceedings which are ongoing.
05:51Our message was to calm down, to respect the Dayton framework which is the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina based on the 1995 compromise which is one state, two entities, three equal constituent peoples and others.
06:08And we are always very much concerned if there are developments which could threaten the functionality, stability and the reform process.
06:19Our objective was to support the council of ministers, Madame Boryana Krišto, who is my counterpart in the efforts to fulfill the criteria to open accession negotiations.
06:29So we would very much like that Bosnia and Herzegovina shifts from potential instability and these tendencies of secession when it comes to Republika Srpska to a more harmonious and functional situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the EU path and reforms which are beneficial to citizens both in economic and social terms are implemented.
06:50Do you think that Russia might try to destabilize situation in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
06:57Well first of all Russia has been conducted an aggressive and occupational war against Ukraine for now three years and three months plus the previous war ten years ago and this has been the violation of international law and everything that all of us were standing for.
07:16I think the majority of the international community especially with involvement of the United States in Ukraine and the contribution of the EU leaders is to first reach ceasefire agreement in Ukraine and then hopefully the peace agreement which would stop the military operations.
07:37We should always be very careful but at the moment I think the major initiative which I started is that the European Council comes back to the region of the Southeast Europe and therefore I agreed with the president of the European Council Antonio Costa to have the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina
07:58and the Western Balkans debated at Arjun European Council because so many other crises different international theatres which are complicated have taken the attention from the leaders of the EU away from the Balkan topics.
08:15You witnessed war in the region in former Yugoslavia. What is the best way to proceed? How to keep peace? How to avoid the war?
08:24Well first of all is to respect each other's borders to respect each other's territories each and every nation and people to stick to the international law and to promote the European path.
08:40European path is the glue for functioning of all the countries in the right direction and also for the reforms and the benefits for the citizens. This is in our view essential and to have a sincere dialogue and build trust without building trust and continuous dialogue there is always a chance for destabilization.
08:59It's true that the United States played a crucial role in delivering peace in former Yugoslavia. How can you comment the current politics of Donald Trump in Europe? Are you concerned about his losing attraction in Europe, in Ukraine, in our region?
09:22Well there were certainly new elements in the second Trump administration which are currently on the table but what also has been going on is the establishment of trust dialogue and the ways to jointly work to address the burning crisis and issues across the globe.
09:42I had an excellent meeting with the Secretary Wright for energy policy. I believe that this 3Cs initiative is an excellent format for more cooperation between the United States and the participating countries. There are 13 of them in the energy policy.
10:01I think that the United States should stay committed to Europe, to the transatlantic partnership in being a factor of stability and peace on our continent. And of course to underscore the importance of NATO because NATO has been a guarantor of collective security for 75 years and I believe it should continue to be so.
10:24Do you think that NATO is still stable, that NATO is still powerful?
10:31I think so. I think that many of our countries have fulfilled the pledge when it comes to the spending on defense. Croatia for instance is spending 2.1% of our GDP on modernization is 30%. We are planning to invest more. We are also working very much on the
10:54in procuring European defense equipment, not only the American equipment, but we have been in the process from Eastern to Western military technologies and we have so far increased our budget for defense more than three times.
11:10The idea is to multiply it even more in the years to come. And I think that the new white paper on defense, new instruments that the European Union has been preparing are strengthening our strategic autonomy and our capabilities and interoperability within the European Union.
11:26Last week Croatia has completed its squadron of 12 fighter jets, French Rafals, which has altered our position in terms of our defense capabilities compared to before. And we have, of course, as many others, given a lot of military assistance to Ukraine over the past three years in order to provide them means to defend themselves and also defend the peace and freedom in Europe, not only in Ukraine.
11:52Thank you very much.