Taking over the Council Presidency from Finland in the first half of 2020, Croatia has released its official programme outlining its plans and priorities. It will be leading the Council of the EU until June. The programme announced by Croatia centres around the presidency’s four key priorities:

A Europe that develops

A Europe that connects

A Europe that protects

An influential Europe.

Among the policy areas that the Croatian presidency will take forward some of interest to the recreational boating industry. It will include a focus on fighting climate change and protecting the environment through policies such as circular economy, protection of the marine environment and protecting coastal areas from pollution. The presidency will also promote sustainable tourism and overall sustainability of coastal and island communities. Another area of its work will be to take a leading role on the international stage in fighting climate change.

Other relevant policy priorities are to strengthen European industry and SMEs, as well as targeted development of green technologies and innovation. Trade also features as a priority regarding the safeguarding of multilateral rule-based trade and a strengthening of EU-US relations.

The full programme can be found here.