Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Friday Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković, at Maximos Mansion. At the beginning of the meeting, two leaders made the following statements:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: So, Prime Minister, dear Andrej, welcome once more to Athens. We had an opportunity this morning, within the context of a very productive EPP event, to compare notes regarding the progress of our respective RRF programs. And I think that this was a very useful meeting. Also in light of the European elections, I think it’s important to be able to make a case to the European citizens that European funds are being put to good use.
This is also an opportunity to review our excellent bilateral relations. Let me congratulate you once more on the significant progress that Croatia has made regarding Schengen, the euro and the fact that you have been leading an economy which has been doing particularly well. So it’s always great to welcome you to Athens and I hope you have a nice day. The weather is very welcoming.
Andrej Plenković: Thank you very much. Dear Prime Minister, dear Kyriakos, and also greetings to your delegation. It is indeed a great honor to be once more in Athens and also thank you for the hospitality both for our meeting today as well as the conference in which I think both of us managed to put into the spotlight the activities that we have taken jointly at the level of the European Union and where we have been very serious and committed in using the NextGenerationEU as one of the very important instruments that was meant to boost our economy after the pandemic of Covid-19.
And as the numbers have shown, both Greece and Croatia, in terms of relation to our GDP, in terms of projects implemented, in terms of funds, are not only using this NextGenerationEU very well, but it has an impact on our public investments and everything that was related to the recovery from the crisis and therefore having been in the position as a very much jointly pro-European government.
And I thank you for the support for Schengen last year and for the eurozone. I think that this NextGenerationEU is jointly demonstrating that countries such as Greece and Croatia can really make a difference by using appropriately EU funds based on what we are doing at our national level and with our own budgetary resources.
