I wish to congratulate Andrej Plenkovic. It was not an easy task for Croatia's rotating presidency because of these extraordinary circumstances we were faced with. I congratulate him on his leadership, creativity and flexibility. We have had perfect cooperation, a huge job has been done, and Croatia had an important role in various issues such as the decision on enlargement, Michel told a press conference after a video conference of EU leaders, the last during Croatia's presidency of the Council of the EU.
Von der Leyen joined in with her congratulations.
On my behalf I want to thank the Croatian presidency. This was an extraordinary time, you were excellent in performing an unprecedented task. It was lovely working with you and we look forward to cooperating in the Council, she said.
During a joint virtual press conference Plenkovic summed up what had been achieved during the six months of Croatia's presidency, which was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic which completely changed the way the Council worked and changed original plans.
At the start of the conference, Plenkovic presented the results of Croatia's presidency.
In the first two months of Croatia's presidency in January and February, everything was going according to plan and then the pandemic emerged which meant that all physical meetings at the political level in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg were cancelled as were numerous informal meetings that were to have been held in Zagreb and other Croatian cities - Split, Dubrovnik, Opatija and so on.
Naturally, we are not happy that we could not have hosted our many friends and colleagues from the member states at more than 250 events, meetings, conferences which we had planned and organised in Croatia for the first half of this year, said Plenkovic.
In circumstances that the world has not seen in one hundred years, when it comes to public health and economic consequences, at the helm of the Council of the EU, Croatia endeavoured to do as much as possible, Plenkovic underlined and added that in addition, a strong earthquake struck Zagreb on March 22 with damage estimated at €11 billion.
He thanked his counterparts in the EU for their expressions of solidarity and said that he expects Croatia's request for aid from the European Solidarity Fund to be addressed quickly in order to relieve the consequences of the earthquake.
Plenkovic noted some examples in which the rotating presidency responded very quickly and helped an agreement to be reached regarding various initiatives in facing the coronavirus crisis.
As early as the end of January, in cooperation with the presidents of the European Council and Commission, a mechanism was activated for an integrated political response to the COVID-19 crisis. Instead of physical meetings a series of video conferences were held for all Council formats. In record time, from the Commission's proposal to its adoption in the Council and Parliament, an investment initiative was agreed as a response to the crisis.
This refers to €37 billion from the cohesion policy which was redirected towards strengthening health systems and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. An agreement was also quickly reached to subsidise a shorter working week, followed by the activation of provisions to deviate from budget rules so that national governments can tackle the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Progress was achieved in public procurement for medical equipment and about 650,000 European citizens, stranded in countries around the world because of the pandemic, were successfully repatriated.
In January, Great Britain's orderly exit from the EU was secured and a mandate was agreed for negotiations on the future relationship.
Plenkovic said that he was particularly satisfied that Croatia's presidency managed to put the issue of enlargement back on the agenda after the opening of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania was blocked in October last year. During Croatia's presidency the two countries were given the green light to open negotiations.
In May, Croatia organised the EU-Western Balkans video summit which had been planned to be held in Zagreb. The virtual summit was held 20 years after the first Zagreb summit.
I think the message sent in the Zagreb Declaration, which was adopted at the summit, is encouraging for all six countries in our neighbourhood and their future reforms on the path to the EU, said Plenkovic.
A summit with the six countries of the Eastern Partnership was also held.
Numerous conclusions were adopted in various sectoral councils and next week we expect an agreement on the Council of the EU's stance on launching the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Plenkovic welcomed the European Commission's proposal made a few weeks ago for a €750bn recovery plan and for the Multiannual Financial Framework of €1100 billion.
Croatia supports this proposal and I have been encouraged by today's discussion on this matter, said Plenkovic.
Plenkovic said that Croatia had managed to fulfil the criteria in the Action Plan to enter the European Exchange Mechanism (ERM II) which is a sort of waiting room for the euro area.
We expect a decision on our admission to ERM II in July, he added and wished Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany all the best when it takes over the rotating presidency on July 1.