"Our aim at this meeting is to exchange views on how this disease spreads and why there are so many infected people in the EU," Beros said before an extraordinary meeting of EU health ministers.
He expressed the need for better cooperation between the member states using the existing mechanisms and for better cooperation with the European Commission to ensure optimum health care for EU citizens.
"We will emphasise the importance of prompt and truthful communication both between the member states and towards the public, because keeping everyone informed is very important and helps in curbing this threat," the Croatian health minister said.
This is the second extraordinary meeting convened by Croatia as the president of the Council of the European Union since the coronavirus outbreak. At the time of the first meeting, held on 13 February, the situation was completely different, with several dozen people infected with the virus, while their number today is much higher.
The Croatian presidency has prepared several questions on the matter and wants to hear the opinions of other member states. Ministers will be asked to say what they think about the existing mechanisms available at EU level to fight the epidemic, propose ways of improving communication, assess the effectiveness of the measures taken by their respective countries and specify what they will focus on if the epidemiological situation deteriorates.