The US remains Europe’s most important strategic partner, Polish and Slovak presidents Karol Nawrocki and Peter Pellegrini, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stressed at the Three Seas Initiative summit in Dubrovnik.
At a joint press conference after the first day of the summit, Plenković said that certain turbulences in public communication between the US and Europe are temporary, Hina news agency reported.
He assessed that Europe must strengthen its strategic autonomy, but stressed that it is crucial to maintain partnership relations with the US.
Karol Nawrocki, a conservative politician who became president last year, repeatedly mentioned the relationship between Europe and the US during the summit, Hina reports, recalling that Warsaw is considered one of Washington’s closest allies in Europe.
At the press conference, the Polish president emphasized that the Three Seas Initiative is a driving mechanism for transatlantic cooperation.
US Energy Minister Chris Wright also arrived at the summit, and Croatia and the US, Hina adds, signed a series of agreements that a member of Trump’s government said were worth billions. One of them is the agreement on the Southern Gas Interconnection as well as the construction of a data center in Topusko in Croatia, the Pantheon project, which is allegedly worth around 50 billion euros.
Plenković emphasized that these investments are a new impulse for Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and pointed out that there have been no such ambitious projects so far.
At the conference, Slovak President Pellegrini rejected claims that the US is not a loyal ally of Europe. He said that it is logical that if the USA invests in the continent, it will also care about its defense.
Poland and Croatia are the founders of the Three Seas Initiative, which was formed in 2016, and Slovakia will chair it next year.
