"Today, we have held consultations on main challenges of the Croatian presidency. We thoroughly discussed further steps concerning the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), preparations for the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb in May, enlargement issues, Brexit, preparations for the Conference on the Future of Europe and our bilateral relations," Plenkovic said after he was received by Macron in Elysee Palace.
Before their working dinner, they held a joint press conference at which Macron expressed his readiness to work on promoting France-Croatia relations.
"We will have an opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations. Both of us want to deepen them," Macron said, praising Plenkovic for his perfect knowledge of the French language as well as his devotion to France where Plenkovic had spent a part of his diplomatic career.
Macron also said that apart from visiting Zagreb for the EU-Western Balkans summit in May, he intended to pay a return visit to Croatia.
"Today's meeting is an opportunity to further advance the high degree of mutual respect and dialogue. Croatia and France have an annual trade of about a billion euro, France is the ninth biggest investor in Croatia, and last year 650,000 French tourists visited Croatia," Plenkovic said.
As for the EU enlargement process, Plenkovic said that he and Macron had discussed a change of methodology for the accession of aspirants, which France sees as a precondition for its approval for opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.
The European Commission is expected to propose changes to the accession process already this month and release an additional report on North Macedonia and Albania in February.
"We want such an atmosphere to be created before the Zagreb summit that the countries that had reservations could agree to continuing the enlargement process. That was the gist of our discussion on this topic," Plenkovic said.
Macron said he wanted the Zagreb summit to be successful and that a changed methodology for the negotiating process was a precondition for opening policy chapters with candidate countries.
"I share your endeavours that the summit in Zagreb in May achieves unity and that it is a success for Europe. France has proposed a new method so that the enlargement process is not just a bureaucratic process but a truly political path forward which can be accelerated or reversed, and which contains conditions as well as concrete benefits for candidate countries," Macron said.
At an EU summit last October, France and the Netherlands blocked the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. Croatia, which assumed the six-month rotating EU presidency on January 1, wants to unblock this process, confident that there is no alternative to the EU membership prospects for southeast European countries.
"I'm glad that President Macron expressed his optimism about the success of the Zagreb summit. That meeting is very important to us. It is in our interest that these countries are stable and that they undertake economic and social reforms," Plenkovic said.
Macron wished Plenkovic a successful presidency of the Council of the EU, highlighting the need for action to be taken on climate change as soon as possible and for measures to be adopted to reach the climate neutrality target by 2050.