The Diplomat
The Croatian ambassador to Spain, Nives Malenica, described the cooperation between the two countries as “exceptional”, during the reception she offered on the occasion of Croatian National Day, the eleventh anniversary of the country’s accession to the EU and the fifteen years of its entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
At an event held on Wednesday at the Official College of Physicians in Madrid, which featured a performance by the Croatian pianist Goran Filipec, the ambassador spoke a few words in which she stated that “the brief history of Croatia in the European Union is a story of vision, audacity, courage and progress.”
Nives Malenica indicated that in the two great crises that have affected it – the pandemic and Russian aggression – the European Union “showed great unprecedented institutional solidarity and a unity that we need today, in this changing world.”
“Union and solidarity in the rejection of Russian aggression and the firm support and help for Ukraine represent at the same time – she said – the fight for the defense of all the values on which the European Union is based.”
Afterwards, the ambassador referred to the “friendly relations” between Croatia and Spain, and highlighted “the exceptional dynamic of bilateral cooperation with all Civil Society institutions, as well as the important highest-level bilateral visits whose culmination was the visit of Their Majesties the Kings to Croatia in November 2022.”
The event was attended by numerous ambassadors from the European Union and other geographical areas, as well as the director of the National Intelligence Center, Esperanza Casteleiro; the general director of Coordination of the Internal Market and Other Community Policies, Antonio Rodríguez de Liévana; and the director for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Croatia, among other personalities.