Government: Croatia fulfils ERM II accession plan

ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) – Croatia has duly fulfilled the requirements under the action plan for accession to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II) and the banking union for the period from July 2019 to May 2020, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Reporting on the implementation of activities under the action plan, Plenkovic said that this confirmed the government’s responsibility and good planning. He recalled that the action plan, adopted in 2018, was prepared in consultation with relevant EU institutions and that it contains 19 measures.

“We have adopted 12 laws and six sets of rules, prepared three tenders for the sale of stocks and shares, two action plans by the Ministry of Economy have been adopted, as well as a decree, a memorandum of understanding and audit policy,” he added.

According to the government’s estimates, Croatia will stay in ERM II for about two and a half years.

“We want to get closer to the eurozone because we have seen in this crisis that eurozone member states are much stronger and equipped with important instruments for defence against the crisis,” Plenkovic said, adding that Croatia wanted EU non-eurozone members to be at least in a similar position.

The government also adopted the report on the implementation of the national reform programme for the period from November 2019 to April 2020. Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said that of the 100 measures provided for under the programme, 65 had been implemented and that more than 70 would have been implemented had it not been for the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.