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September 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
lationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which appears to be personally warm, and has included her calling for closer co-operation with Russia. Sberbank is Agrokor’s biggest creditor, leading to concerns over its leverage in the coun- try, and Gazprom has been building its presence as a gas supplier to Croatia through its partner- ship with Croatia’s PPD, seen by some as a com- pany with considerable political influence.
“Being an Atlanticist and maintaining a dialogue with the Russian president is in no way contradic- tory,” Grabar-Kitarovic said, asserting that the relationship was based on necessity, and three main areas of co-operation. Firstly, addressing crises such as Ukraine and Syria, in which Croa- tia supports Nato and EU policy. Secondly, the regional level, with a need for Russian support in an increasingly fractious Bosnia & Herzegovina, as a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement. And thirdly, specific bilateral issues including the Agrokor crisis.
Turning finally to Croatia’s neighbours in the Western Balkans, Grabar-Kitarovic admitted that
EU accession appeared “a distant prospect right now”, and said that she regretted that the Euro- pean Council had not given the go-ahead to start- ing accession talks with Macedonia and Albania in June. While Croatia has been accused of putting roadblocks on the EU path of Serbia and Bosnia in particular, the president insisted that the country was a staunch supporter of enlargement — and called for a new terminology for the region.
“I prefer to call it the consolidation of Europe, because Europe will not be enlarging, it will be consolidation of the vacuum that we’ve created over a great area to the south and east of Croatia. I don’t like calling it the Western Balkans — I think it evokes negative feelings, it has become a global trope that signifies dissolution, war, instability. Who would want the Balkans in their own home?
I prefer to call it Southeast Europe, to give it a geographically more neutral dimension, but also a broader dimension, because we’re all responsible for their accession, including Greece and Romania and Bulgaria and Hungary and Italy, to help our neighbouring countries to move forward on the EU path as soon as possible.”