With support for Ukraine, we defend international law, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with CNN. Plenković is currently in New York to participate in the annual session of the UN General Assembly.
When asked about the situation in Ukraine and what comes next after several years of struggle, Plenković stressed that in four and a half years of aggression by Russia, Ukraine has begun to regain its former strength and has managed to secure the strong support of the international community.
"What President (of Ukraine Volodymyr) Zelensky said before the UN General Assembly was very clear. It targets Russia's ability to continue a funded war, and the easiest and most practical way to do that is to weaken Russia's ability to produce oil and gas," Plenković noted, adding that the unification of EU member states in support of Ukraine is also a defense of international law.
"If we are going to ignore or simply not pay attention to international law, the entire international system, as well as our security and our survival, are put in question. That is why Ukraine is such an important example of what the world is heading towards in the future," the Croatian Prime Minister also pointed out.
He added that the EU provides about 90 billion euros from its budget to Ukraine in the form of loans, with 60 billion of the total amount intended for strengthening Ukrainian defense and 30 billion for the functioning of the state.
When asked how climate change will affect tourism, which is a very important industry in Croatia, Plenković noted that the country has had a record tourist season in the first eight months of the year. According to him, about 22 million tourists visit Croatia annually, and revenues amount to over 15.8 billion euros.
"The tourism sector is very important for the constant growth of the Croatian economy, which has been growing for 22 consecutive quarters. This year I expect growth of about 2.3-2.4 percent, which is about twice the growth of the EU or the eurozone," Plenković stressed. "However, climate change and drought strongly affect our security, especially in terms of forest fires. Croatia has very large capacities because it has firefighting aircraft and helicopters. In fact, we export this equipment to other countries in the Mediterranean."