Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic addressed a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations (OA) in Berlin on Thursday evening, speaking of historical ties between Croatia and Germany and the further process of European integration, which he called unstoppable.
The Committee was established in 1952 to represent German business interests in Eastern Europe, covering over 20 countries. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Committee promotes reforms in the transition countries and their integration into European structures.
Back in the time of the former Yugoslavia, a lot of people from that region lived and worked in Germany and those ties never disappeared, while at the same time millions of Germans travelled to the Adriatic Sea for their holidays, Milanovic said, calling Germany the key and economically strongest country in Europe.
"On the other hand, Croatia is a small country and cannot isolate itself. We must integrate and try to be true to ourselves," Milanovic said. "Further integration of Europe is unstoppable, the borders must be opened and visa requirements lifted," he added.
Milanovic said that in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he had thought that Croatia would be among the first countries of Southeast Europe to join the European Union. "The next year the war broke out and we are still not a member," he said, adding that lessons should be learned from that, and that the region should stick together now.
The celebration was followed by a formal dinner when the guests were joined by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
