Parliament adopts PM's report on European Council meetings

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament adopted by a majority of votes on Friday the prime minister's report on the European Council meetings held in 2022.

Among the topics discussed by the European Council last year were the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the security of food supply, energy, economic issues, critical infrastructure, and COVID-19.

Presenting the report earlier this week, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the Ukraine war was the most important political topic in 2022 and that the EU had shown unity by imposing sanctions on Russia and providing support to Ukraine.

He also spoke of Croatia's accession to the EU's Schengen area and euro zone on 1 January and the benefits that would bring. "Today we are among the 15 countries that are members of the EU, NATO, the euro zone and the Schengen area. We cannot be in a better company."

Before the vote, the opposition reiterated their objections to the report and criticisms of the prime minister and his government.

Social Democratic Party leader Peđa Grbin said that the discussion on the report had shown once again that the government cared more about Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina than about the Croatian citizens. 

Sandra Benčić (Green-Left Bloc) said that while presenting the report the prime minister had made it clear he was ashamed of the Croatian parliamentary opposition parties and citizens who did not support his proposal that Ukrainian soldiers should be trained in Croatia, but he never said he was ashamed of the slow pace of post-earthquake reconstruction, the euro changeover and price increases.

Author: Hina