Croatian Prime Minister - Outlook for the EU in 2025 - video Dailymotion

CGTN Europe spoke to Andrej Plenković, the Croatian Prime Minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos

Transcript

00:00Juliette Mann spoke to the Croatian Prime Minister about the outlook for the EU in 2025.

00:06We had an unprecedented situation. I asked my colleagues the other day,

00:10do we remember a moment when within a few weeks you had a vote of no confidence in Paris

00:16and a vote of no confidence in Berlin go through?

00:20I don't remember that. So the axis needs to be strengthened

00:23and therefore I think that after the German elections we will have more stability

00:28and that the axis and the engine, which is the Franco-German partnership,

00:33takes the economic development into a better direction than it was before.

00:38We are managing well together with Malta and Cyprus.

00:41We are among those countries who have a high GDP growth.

00:44Last year it was 3.6% in Croatia, which is very good,

00:48compared to the average of the EU and the Eurozone, which is around 1% or even lower.

00:54Where do you see the direction of travel when it comes to trade?

00:58Well, this is the key issue. It's been a key issue between the European Union and China.

01:02It has become a key issue between the United States and China.

01:05The first signals are, let's say, a sign of warning in terms of greater protectionism.

01:13Imposition of tariffs, no level playing field, but making a more inward-looking approach

01:20and protecting our own economic operators, which can be, of course, justified and logical

01:25if there is such a situation.

01:27But I think we need to use the mechanisms that are at our disposal.

01:30One is the WTO, which is very important.

01:33We need to be open but pragmatic at the same time,

01:37and I think this will be the frame of the approach to cooperation,

01:41but we need to see a little bit more what are the details being laid out coming from Washington

01:46and also to see what is happening in China.