Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković 20:15 Press remarks by President António Costa following the[...]

First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for his welcome and this opportunity to talk in person about the main priorities for the European Union.

This visit to the capitals is very important. First of all, because it is my duty to bring the European institutions closer to the European citizens.

It is also very important because we need to engage with the different leaders. We are a union of nations, and all the nations count, all voices matters. It is very important to listen to the different leader to design our main priorities and our agenda for the coming months. And finally, it is important to listen to each other, to build unity. Because unity is our main strength in the European Union.

We have a strategic agenda focused on our key priorities: first, competitiveness; second, security - both of which are closely interlinked. We must look at security in all its dimensions, including climate change, citizen security, and defence, which in turn drives our competitiveness. And for this, we need to work together, and we must remain very strict in developing our policies.

Of course, there are also very important issues, as the Prime Minister raised.

First of all, enlargement. Enlargement is by far the most important geopolitical investment we can make in our own security - enlargement to Ukraine, enlargement to Moldova, and, of course, to the Western Balkan countries. It is a very demanding process, but we need to focus on it and prioritise it. We must continue working with all these countries to ensure that, in this institutional cycle, we achieve with success this process.

It is always essential to have a robust long-term budget. For this, we have now to work together with the European Commission to approve, in a timely manner, the next multi-annual framework, which is crucial to ensure that we have the effective means to develop our main political priorities - namely competitiveness and security, and to ensure that the cohesion in our union is a reality for all.

Thank you, dear Andrej, for this opportunity to talk with you and to work with you, for the common good of our Union.