Press Advisories

7. 7. 202217:36

Prime Minister Petr Fiala receives Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković

On Thursday, 7 July 2022, Prime Minister Petr Fiala received the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, at the Office of the Government. During the working meeting, they mainly discussed energy security. They also discussed other European issues in view of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Both Prime Ministers praised excellent mutual relations. A strong link between the two countries comprises the compatriot minorities in both countries and the high number of tourists. The two statesmen discussed mainly the possibilities of cooperation in the energy sector. The Czech Republic is interested in using Croatian LNG terminals and oil transport capacity.

"Relations between our two countries are excellent. Not only because we are allies in the EU and NATO, but also because we have strong bilateral relations at every possible level. We discussed with the Prime Minister the possibilities of cooperation in the energy sector. The Czech Republic is interested in taking advantage of some of the opportunities that Croatia has. We talked about building LNG terminals or oil transport capacities. Oil from southern European ports is crucial for us to replace the oil we take from Russia. These are all potentials that we need to exploit and we have discussed them," the Prime Minister said.

Another topic of the meeting was the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU. The prime ministers spoke in particular about the integration of the Western Balkan countries and the main objectives set by our Presidency in this area.

"We also touched upon issues related to the Czech  Presidency of the Council of the EU and related to Croatia and its interests. We would like to move forward on the integration of the Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. There, it is a question of candidate status, in the case of Northern Macedonia and Albania it is a question of opening accession negotiations. One of the big topics we have discussed is Croatia's accession to the Schengen area. The Czech Republic supports this step. We are convinced that Croatia fulfils all the conditions and we will do everything possible to ensure that during our Presidency a decision on Croatia's accession will be taken at the beginning of next year," the Czech Prime Minister added.

The prime ministers also agreed on the need to continue to support Ukraine in the war against the Russian aggressor, militarily, economically and humanitarian. The Czech Republic is also ready to support the tightening of sanctions.