Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Marić spoke on Tuesday 21 January about the work being done in his country to meet the budgetary, monetary and economic criteria for future membership in the euro area and then the banking union.
Following the dispatch in mid-2019 of two letters requesting participation in the ‘MCII’ exchange rate mechanism and enhanced cooperation with the ECB on banking supervision (see EUROPE 12292/9), the main focus has been on structural reforms to foster “stable” growth, Mr Marić said.
The Minister praised his country’s serious fiscal efforts, which have put an end to the excessive deficit procedure and reduced the debt by 13% of GDP in 4 years to around 70% of GDP. He also recalled that “more than 90%” of the Croatian banking sector was owned by foreign banks.
The Commission’s Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, stated that Croatia is “on the right track”. “I think we will be able to present a positive decision in due course”, he added. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Marion Fontana)