Croatian President Zoran Milanović has supported Ukraine’s EU membership application and recommended opening accession talks with Macedonia and Albania and granting membership candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

I was summoned to sign a joint statement with the presidents of Eastern Europe, to urgently grant Ukraine candidate status for EU membership. All right, the situation is extraordinary and I was ready to sign, but on the condition that such a status be given to both BiH and Kosovo, which some members have not yet recognized. I also demanded that a decision be made to start EU accession talks with Albania and Macedonia, which Brussels has been harassing for years. That is as important for us as Ukraine, Milanovic said.

Regarding Serbia and BiH, the Croatian president believes that their place is in the West, and therefore their authorities must decide whether to belong to the EU or Russia. The threats for possible security destabilization of the region, according to him, are not good and are not realistic at the moment.