“The time has come for Bosnia-Herzegovina to start accession negotiations with the EU,” states the George Gerapetritis from Zagreb

“The accession perspective of all the candidate states of the Western Balkans depends on the reforms they implement and on the full respect of International Law, the Rule of Law and the European acquis”, emphasized the Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetritis in his statements after the end of the meeting with Gordon Rudman’s Croatian counterpart in Zagreb.

Mr Gerapetritis expressed his satisfaction with the joint will of the two countries to support the start of EU accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, following the favorable opinion of the European Commission last week.

At the same time, he noted that Greece and Croatia are convinced that “the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU can serve as a catalyst for peace, prosperity and stability in our region”.

Mr Gerapetritis described “lasting peace” as the EU’s greatest achievement, but warned that it should not be taken for granted given the developments in the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“It’s been two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And we are experiencing a humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” he said.

“This tragic situation may have potential spillover effects to other vulnerable areas,” he pointed out, adding: “Tensions in the Red Sea could have significant implications for global trade, supply chains, maritime security, as well as prices of consumer goods”.

“This cannot go on. We cannot afford to leave the situation as it is”, he said characteristically and noted that this is why Greece is “doing everything in its power to mitigate the consequences of the crises, prevent escalation and contribute to finding solutions”.

Referring to Greece-Croatia bilateral relations, the Foreign Minister underlined the value of interconnectivity, noting that Athens strongly supports “transportation corridors, such as the Blue Corridor, but also energy projects, such as the Vertical Natural Gas Corridor and the Green Aegean Interconnector” .

Significant scope for intensifying cooperation with Croatia is also found in trade, investments, cutting-edge technologies and education.

For his part, Mr. Radman described the relations between Greece and Croatia as “excellent and without open issues” and underlined the significant convergence of opinions on a number of issues concerning Southeast Europe.

He referred to the “high quality of cooperation” between the two countries, not only in the context of international organizations, such as the EU and NATO, but also in initiatives of a regional nature, such as the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), the Tripartite Initiative Seas, the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EU-MED9 and the Quadripartite Cooperation “Bulgaria-Romania-Croatia-Greece”.

The Croatian Foreign Minister also thanked the Greek side for the support it provides in the process of Croatia’s accession to the OSCE. It is worth noting that Croatia supported the Greek candidacy for the position of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the years 2025-2026 and the support provided by Athens to the election of Croatia to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Mr. Gerapetritis congratulated Croatia for its determination to join the EU, but also for its most recent achievements of inclusion in both the Eurozone and the Schengen area. “The excellent relations between Greece and Croatia are based on the common principles and values ​​that our countries follow in foreign policy,” said the foreign minister.

During his stay in Zagreb, Mr. Gerapetritis was also received by the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic.