It’s unrealistic to expect major progress in EU expansion before the European Parliament election next May, and the first opportunity for further enlargement may present itself during Croatia’s chairmanship of the EU in 2020, said the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, in Brussels on Friday.

Croatia will hold the six-month rotating chairmanship of the Council of the EU from January to June 2020.

A summit focusing on EU enlargement will be organised at that time. It will most likely happen during Europe Week, in May 2020.

“We want a bit of symbolism – Europe Week, the 20th anniversary of the Zagreb Summit. We will have a new European Parliament, a new Commission, a new President of the Council,” Plenkovic said.

The Zagreb Summit, held in 2000, marked a beginning of negotiations between Croatia and the EU on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

I hope that the new multi-annual financial framework will be finalised by then, and if we manage to figure out a new set of asylum laws, the topic of enlargement may be brought up again, he said.

“It’s, however, entirely possible that may not happen and all of those issues may be waiting for us. It will be a challenging chairmanship, that much is perfectly clear,” Plenkovic added.

On the sidelines of a two-day EU summit in Brussels, Plenkovic met with Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, and the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Romania, Finland, and Croatia make up the trio that will preside over the Council of the EU in the second half of 2019 and in 2020.