.png)
Zagreb - Members of the European Affairs Committee, Finance and Central Budget Committee, Committee on the Economy, Labour, Retirement System and the Social Partnership Committee and the Committee on Regional Development and European Union Funds held a meeting with the Vice-President of the European Commission and the Commissioner for Euro and Social Dialogue, Valdis Dombrovskis.
They discussed the economic, financial and social challenges and priorities facing the European Union.
Vice-President of the European Commission, Dombrovskis said that 2018 was a good year for Croatia and that economic and fiscal development was going in the right direction. Talking about specific recommendations for Croatia, he outlined the taxation of capital, real estate and consumption and the implementation of further pension and healthcare reform as well as the labour market and the rationalization of public administration. He also mentioned the lack of major foreign investments in Croatia due to, as he said, a restrictive environment.
Talking about bringing Croatia closer to the introduction of the euro as a single currency, he stressed that the Commission supports Croatia on its path towards the euro and joining the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) not only via political but also technical and financial support. He pointed out that Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) provides both technical and significant financial support to the countries that work on the introduction of the euro.
In the course of discussion with Croatian parliamentarians, certain issues were opened such as Brexit's impact on the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and thus related increase in national contributions to the EU budget and the reduction of funds for individual policies. Discussion were held on internal and external migration management in the Union, the idea of introducing a common tax scheme, the expected effects of EU membership on Croatia and the need to make greater use of European Union funds.