Croatia will have to define its priorities and focus on them once it enters a big system like the European Union, in order to make use of its EU membership, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in Brussels on Friday after the end of a two-day EU summit meeting.
"In the European Union, Croatia, a small country, will have to define what is important for it and its priorities so that we don't squander energy and money on matters of less importance," said Milanovic who attended the summit as an observer. In the run-up to its admission to the EU, set for 1 July 2013, Croatia has the status of observer at such meetings.
He said that the most important question would be to choose priorities into which funds drawn from EU programmes would be invested.
The results will come if we clearly define our priorities and if we are efficient and focused, Milanovic said, adding that EU funds should be used for projects that would trigger off Croatia's growth.
Asked whether Croatia would join the fiscal pact signed earlier on Friday in Brussels, upon its entry into the EU, Milanovic said that the document should be first analysed in detail before making any commitments.
"I can say now that we are discussing and analysing those matters, we'll see," Milanovic said.
Leaders of 25 EU member states on Friday signed the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, which virtually forbids a budget deficit.
Asked by reporters to comment on findings of opinion polls showing that over a half of the Croatians doubt that his cabinet's moves would pull the country out of the crisis, Milanovic said "We believe that they will".
"We are doing our job and believe that we are doing it well, and citizens will constantly evaluate us and the grades won't always be good," he said.
