For the first time since joining the EU, Croatia is holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. There is considerable overlap in terms of goals between the government of Croatia and the ECR group in the CoR, and this sentiment was expressed in a plenary session on 12 February.  

Ivan Malencia, Croatia's public administration minister, delivered a statement at the CoR's 138th plenary session, in part detailing the programme of the Croatian presidency. The programme is entitled "A strong Europe in a world full of challenges" and has four key objectives: facilitating an EU which develops, connects, protects and is influential in the world arena.  

President of the ECR Group in the CoR Władysław Ortyl welcomed the minister and spoke of the benefits cohesion policy has brought Europe. He underlined that this policy has been effective in not only bringing economic growth to countries like Croatia and in central and eastern Europe, which suffered under Communist oppression, but also in increasing the prosperity of countries such as Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and France.  

Mr Ortyl said: "Every euro invested in cohesion policy between 2007and 2013 throughout the EU generated almost EUR 2.75 in revenue. Countries such as Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have received surprisingly large benefits. I urge you and your presidency to ensure that everyone benefits clearly from cohesion policy during the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework." 

Mr Ortyl also praised the presidency's emphasis on digitalisation and called on its representative to explore pragmatic options to climate change as well as respecting the sovereignty of Member States.