Croatia’s EU Council presidency the focus of President Maurer’s visit
Bern, 29.11.2019 - The President of the Swiss Confederation Ueli Maurer travelled to Croatia on Friday, 29 November 2019, to visit President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and other leading Croatian politicians. In the first six months of 2020, Croatia will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time. The discussions held during the visit thus focused on European policy issues.
Mr Maurer congratulated Croatia on its imminent presidency of the EU Council, which has adopted the motto ‘A strong Europe in a challenging world’. He highlighted the fact that Switzerland and the European Union have a shared interest in a strong and dynamic European continent. As the Swiss delegation in Croatia reiterated, the institutional agreement with the EU will be one of the main points on the political agenda in the coming twelve months. Unresolved issues must be clarified in order to achieve domestic approval in Switzerland. Mr Mauer underlined during Ms Grabar-Kitarovic’s visit to Bern this summer that any extraneous linking is to be avoided in the meantime.
Mr Maurer’s return visit was seen by both sides as an expression of the excellent relations between Switzerland and Croatia. 30,000 Croatian citizens and 50,000 Croatian-Swiss dual citizens live in Switzerland. In recent years, bilateral relations have benefited from cooperation that has taken place as part of the Swiss contribution to EU enlargement. While in Croatia, Mr Maurer also met Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the speaker of the Croatian parliament, Gordan Jandroković.
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