We have gathered this year as a brutal war with a multifaceted and global impact continues to rage in Europe. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has upended the rules-based order, the multilateral system and economic flows. It has brought about human suffering and refugee flows, destruction of civilian infrastructure and war crimes. The latest announcements about partial mobilization in Russia, preparations for the organization of sham referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine and nuclear threats are another dangerous escalation in an already unprecedented crisis. While the Ukrainian people are suffering the most in their struggle to defend their homes, the consequences of the Russian aggression are felt globally and so it must be condemned worldwide.
Three decades ago, Croatia itself was a war-ravaged country in jeopardy, also facing armed aggression. Almost a third of its territory was occupied. Additionally, we had to fight for international recognition and were under an arms embargo. The Croatian people know what it means to be under attack and what it takes to defend their homeland. Against all odds, Croatia and the Croatian people prevailed. Many, especially our defenders, paid the highest price for our freedom and liberty. Stronger for its own experience, Croatia today is an exporter of peace and stability, a humanitarian donor worldwide, a popular tourist destination and the country that produces the fastest electric car in the world.
Success is possible if one is determined and has a vision of the future. Precisely because of our own experience, Croatia immediately and unequivocally extended political, humanitarian, economic and military support and solidarity to Ukraine. To do otherwise would be a betrayal of principles and values we all hold dear, particularly respect for human rights and responsibility to protect populations from atrocity crimes. This time around, Europe and its partners came together to stand up to aggression, show solidarity and strengthen their own resilience. In October, we will highlight this unity once more in Zagreb, as Croatia prepares to host the first-ever Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform.
Croatia’s transition was long and complex, but it was guided by a firm notion that democracy, human rights and respect for national minorities was the best way for Croatian society as a whole to further develop and prosper. Today our democratic systems are challenged by the fallacious and dangerous thesis that autocracy is ultimately a more efficient and pragmatic way to govern. Our national dialogues are distorted by targeted disinformation, fake news and hybrid attacks. Our trust in democracy is being undermined from both within and outside of our societies.
As fierce as these challenges are, our commitment to democracy, its procedures and values must remain strong. On the crossroads between democracy and autocracy, our choice should remain clear. In today’s perilous moment, Croatia remains a staunch supporter of the international rules-based order and the United Nations at the centre of global cooperation. Although far from being ideal, this system, with all of its flaws, has still enabled the world to reach common ground and find some remarkable and inspirational results for local and global issues in the almost eight decades of its existence.
We live in a plurality of simultaneous and interconnected crises that affect us all. In order to overcome this perfect storm of crises, we need determined action now. The further erosion of our core rules and values should be halted and reversed, respect for international law upheld and accountability ensured. We should also act to make our system fit for purpose. That is particularly true for the reform of the Security Council. The General Assembly intervened instead and offered a platform for an overwhelming majority of States to condemn the aggression against a sovereign and independent country.
When the world is facing a geopolitical crisis of the scale such as the one in Ukraine today, we must ensure that our policies and actions are predictable, reliable and timely across the United Nations system. Croatia’s adherence to promoting peace and security is evident also in its continuous participation in the United Nations, European Union (EU) and NATO peacekeeping missions and operations. It is an investment we are readily willing to make.
As we were beginning to recover from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the war in Ukraine dramatically altered our perspectives and political agenda. It radically changed not only the security
but also the energy architecture of Europe, and is threatening global food security. We must stand united and step up our efforts to reorganize the energy supply lines. We cannot accept extortion and we cannot be held hostage over food and energy, which all of us need. Therefore, we applaud the Secretary-General and the United Nations for their role in brokering the deal to export Ukrainian grain.
On the regional level, Croatia is contributing to energy security and diversification by its liquefied natural gas terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk. Beyond ensuring its own needs, Croatia is now able to supply its neighbours and other countries in Central Europe. Simultaneously, we are investing in renewable energy, with a third of our energy consumption and almost half of our electricity production already coming from renewables. We are ensuring a fair transition and preventing energy poverty, implementing financial measures that benefit both the citizens and the business sector.
We must find a global solution to the price of gas, which threatens our households and our economies. It is intolerable for a minority of speculators to enrich themselves in these times by imposing exorbitant prices. What is more, we are also witnessing an intolerable imbalance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The richest 1 per cent in the world are responsible for 15 per cent of emissions — twice as much as half the poorest of humankind. That is not acceptable. It is up to those who pollute the most to provide the most effort; that is not only fair but also the most effective if we are to achieve our climate objectives.
Clean mobility and innovative technologies are an opportunity and new technologies, such as hydrogen, offer new horizons for stronger cooperation between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. While we in Croatia successfully passed the test during the pandemic and avoided social fracture with tailored national measures, global inflation and the rise of prices have to be tackled again. We as a Government are continuing our interventionist policy to alleviate the burden of the energy crisis on our households and businesses, local Governments and public institutions, schools and hospitals. Similar to our efforts during the pandemic, we are now implementing a strong national package worth more than 6 per cent of our gross domestic product. That includes financial measures, subsidies for vulnerable groups and limitations on the prices of basic food items.
I wish to say a few words on climate change and biodiversity. Despite the enormous current challenges, we have a responsibility to also safeguard our commitments to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Croatia welcomes the ambitious approach put forward in the report of the Secretary-General Our Common Agenda (A/75/982) as a concrete road map towards its realization. Here, too, a revitalized global action and political commitment are needed to ensure effective multilateralism. By integrating the Sustainable Development Goals in its national development strategy towards 2030, Croatia has proven its dedication to their full implementation.
As a current member of the Economic and Social Council, we will work closely together with our partners to ensure more sustainable, greener, inclusive and equitable societies in which no one will be left behind. Ahead of the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt, let us evaluate the implementation of our joint commitments from Glasgow. We need to strengthen cooperation in the effort to find mechanisms and financial resources to fulfil the Paris Agreement and to continue the fight against climate change at the national, regional and global levels.
In the year in which we are marking the thirtieth anniversary of our United Nations membership, Croatia remains a constructive and responsible international actor. In the coming months, we will join a group of only 15 other countries that are at the same time members of the EU, NATO, the Eurozone and the Schengen Area. That follows a sober and prudent decision in line with my Government’s policy of modern sovereignism. Through that policy, we have strengthened our international position by pooling resources with our allies and partners, furthering our national interests and tackling economic and social challenges.
Croatia also pays special attention to South-East Europe, a region still not fully integrated into the EU. The region’s stability, development and democratic progress are not only in our, but also in Europe’s interest. We support a clear European Union perspective for candidates and aspirants based on the fulfilment of well-established and clear criteria, the implementation of reforms and the delivery of tangible results. The stability of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, with which we share a 1,000-kilometre border, is of particular importance to Croatia. We would like to see
a prosperous and functional Bosnia and Herzegovina progressing firmly on the path to EU membership.
In the light of the current situation in Ukraine and elsewhere, it is pivotal that international law and international treaties be respected. That includes in particular peace treaties such as the Dayton-Paris Peace Agreement, which brought peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina as the multinational and multicultural homeland of its three constitutive peoples — Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs — as well as others. For the cohesion, stability and progress of the country, their constitutional full equality must be ensured and respected. Given the fact that the Bosniak political leaders have publicly admitted they had no true intention of coming to a deal with Bosnian Croat political leaders over the electoral reform, in line with the Constitutional Court verdict, the only way forward remains for High Representative Christian Schmidt to act and use his Bonn powers. As a friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I call upon him to use his powers to ensure legitimate representation and equality of Bosnian Croats in the country’s institutions following the 2 October general election. As the least numerous among the constituent peoples, the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina demand no favours, only equality.
We are mutually interdependent. Turmoil in one region has consequences for us, all no matter where we are on the globe. None of our national goals can be achieved without solidarity and the rules-based order upon which not only our security, but also our survival rests. We must build, protect and defend, and stand up to those who destroy, lie and loot. As we witness aggression and atrocities on European soil again and as the rule of power threatens to bring the world order down, we owe it to future generations to be on the right side of history.
The international community must foster its unity and stand with Ukraine in the fight for its own existence. We have to unite in our respect for international law, as well as in finding global solutions to overlapping crises, including rising inflation, energy and food crises. To achieve secure and affordable energy, we need a global solution for gas prices. We must also ensure sustainable energy transition.
Our world has changed permanently. In these new circumstances, more international cooperation has no alternative. Let us commit to working jointly for the benefit of our common future. The approach of democracies in international relations is a cooperative one. The approach of the authoritarian regimes is a conflictual one. The global Organization, the United Nations — and all of us within it — must prove that the rules-based order and the cooperative approach will prevail.