Croatian Foreign Minister Grlić Radman on a Visit to the Republic of Austria

People › Other ♦ Published: July 28, 2022; 19:03 ♦ (Vindobona)

The Foreign Minister of Croatia, Gordan Grlić Radman, met in Vienna with the Foreign Minister of Austria, Alexander Schallenberg. Further, the Croatian Foreign Minister met with representatives of the Croatian community in Austria.

Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (r.) received his Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman (l.) in Vienna / Picture: © BMEIA Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äußeres / Gruber / Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The Foreign Minister of Croatia, Gordan Grlić Radman, visited Vienna for a working meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Schallenberg. The exchange between the Foreign Ministers focused on bilateral relations, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, European energy security and the EU perspectives of the Western Balkan states.

Relations between Austria and Croatia

This year, Austria and Croatia are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the very close relations between the two countries. During the talks, Foreign Minister Schallenberg particularly emphasized successful economic relations.

Excellent meeting with Croatian FM @grlicradman today. Talked about #Russia’s war of aggression in #Ukraine and European perspective of the #WesternBalkans. Also discussed energy cooperation - EU solidarity is crucial to blunt Russia’s attempts to weaponize energy supply. pic.twitter.com/tXOGgonxt7
— Alexander Schallenberg (@a_schallenberg) July 27, 2022

Austrian companies are important players in the Croatian economy thanks to their investments of over 5 billion euros. In this context, Foreign Minister Schallenberg congratulated his counterpart on Croatia's accession to the euro at the beginning of 2023, which is the result of a successful reform policy and a further positive signal to investors.

Russian Aggression

In the framework of the exchange on the Russian war against Ukraine, Foreign Minister Schallenberg reported on his visit to Ukraine in the Slavkov format last week.

Russia abuses energy supplies as a weapon. To become more independent, Austria is focusing on diversifying its suppliers in the short term and on renewable energies in the medium to long term. The need to increase the diversification of the European Union's energy supply was emphasized, in which the Croatian LNG terminal on Krk would play an important role.

Western Balkans

Regarding the situation in the Western Balkans, the ministers agreed that the common interest of the two countries is to actively promote the European path of the countries of the Western Balkans to make these countries stable and prosperous.

The two foreign ministers also discussed their further support for Bosnia and Herzegovina to achieve candidate status for EU accession as soon as possible. Austria supports Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path to EU membership, but still sees a need for action in areas such as electoral law, the fight against corruption and the strengthening of the rule of law to meet the conditions for this.

Croats in Austria

During his visit, the minister also met with representatives of the Croatian community in Austria, as well as representatives of the Croatian minority in Gradišće, who are a bridge and an important link in relations between Croatia and Austria, emphasizing the continued support of the Government of the Republic of Croatia to the activities of Gradišće Croats.