Zagreb, Croatia – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined His Excellency Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia, for a press conference after a bilateral meeting.  Below are the Speaker’s remarks, followed by Q&A:

 

Speaker Pelosi.  Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, for your words of welcome, for the opportunity to hear your views as to what is happening in Ukraine and to give us the opportunity to thank you for your tremendous leadership when it comes to Ukraine and, of course, Croatia.

 

When we received the invitation, when I was in Berlin for the G7, and the Speaker of the Ukraine Parliament – I think they call him Mr. President there too; we call it Speaker, but – extended the invitation to come to Croatia for this meeting.  It was clear that he felt very comfortable inviting speakers of the world to come here, because the friendships that you have extended, the appreciation you have for the courage of Ukrainian people in their fight for democracy, which is a fight not just for Ukraine, but for democracy throughout the world.  And for the military assistance you have provided, the refugee assistance that you have provided, the moral assistance that Croatia has provided under your leadership, Mr. Prime Minister. 

 

It is, as the Prime Minister said, we talked about our mutual concern about Ukraine, what we can do working together as we go forward.  And the importance of this meeting on Crimea, initiative, platform, first summit in this regard that is being held in Zagreb.  It’s an honor to be here.  And again, perfect, a perfect place to have this.

 

Secondly, we did talk about U.S.-Croatia relationships.  Our students study side-by-side, our soldiers trained shoulder-to-shoulder, our leaders work hand-in-hand.  This is a very important relationship for us.

 

The Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, others, the Speaker earlier, but the Prime Minister in our meeting just now was talking about some things that – we are pleased to have the visa waiver situation resolved.  But we're also wanting to do the double taxation agreement very soon.  And other areas where we try to work together more closely to enhance our roles in making peace, democracy and freedom spread in the region and in the world.  So we thank Croatia for its leadership.  

 

It's a country small enough to be resilient, but big enough to be significant in terms of security and democracy and peace and values.  And values are what comes through in any conversation with the Prime Minister because of the experience you have had in your own country in the past, in terms of violence and the rest, and specifically mining and things like that, and trauma after violence, that you can be helpful to Ukraine and others subjected to Russian aggression.  So I thank you for that.

 

So it's about our relationship with each other writ large.  It's our working together for Ukraine.  And I'm very pleased in both of those regards, to be – as a co-leader of our delegation on this trip, Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia.  He was elected by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to be their President.  And in that capacity, he was invited by the Ukraine to participate in this meeting, and he had some valuable perspectives from NATO to add to the conversation.  Then, here, but also as we go forward, tomorrow.

 

So for us, it's an honor that an American is the head of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in light of some years before when there's some doubt about how people viewed our commitment to NATO.  Thank you, Mr. Connelly, for your leadership.

 

The security and stability, when we travel or leave our country, when any of our delegations go forward, and just recently, we had the Chair of the Armed Services Committee – Chairman Adam Smith – here, again, focusing on the importance of the U.S.-Croatia relationship and security.  Security is our number one issue.  Economics, that's one of our primary issues as well, and governance.  And in all three areas, we have a very positive relationship, and we learn a lot from each other.  We certainly learned from Croatia.

 

Just one final but last point being about energy.  Energy happens to be a leverage point in this war.  The Russians have supplied, been the supplier of energy, and countries now have to diversify so that we're not being blackmailed by Russia as we go forward.  A leader in showing the way in that regard has been Croatia.  So thank you for your leadership in that regard.

 

And Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for the honor of visiting with you here.  Thank you for the hospitality extended to all of us, for peace in Ukraine.  And thank you for your personal leadership in all of this.

 

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Q.  My question is both to Speaker Pelosi and Mr. Prime Minister.  We have been witnessing the growing involvement of Iran in the conflict in Ukraine.  Firstly, throughout the shipment of drones and it's quite possible to see that there will be additional shipment of rocket systems as well.  Do you see this as something that could lead towards further destabilization of the conflict, that eventually things could be going out of hand, that the conflict could become more globally visible and, unfortunately, engaging?  And just another sub-question to Speaker Pelosi, where can we expect your next unannounced flight and to where?  Thank you.

 

Speaker Pelosi.  Did you want to go first?

 

Prime Minister Plenković.  No problem. 

 

As regards Croatia, our attitude is that whoever helps Russia in its aggression is making a bad move, and this is how we also judge the Iranian assistance and the provision of critical infrastructure to Ukraine.  This will, actually, it's providing weapons to Russia that helped Russia destroy critical infrastructure of Ukraine.  This is something that will make Ukrainian winter much harder, and we are very much against this, and we think this is not in line with international law.  That is why our attitude – the attitude of the Croatian government – has been unambiguous since the very beginning of this conflict.  As regards the attitude of Croatia, I've said it, and I said it once already, and I will say it again: Croatia is determined in its attitude, in its pro-Ukrainian attitude and stance in this war.

 

Speaker Pelosi.  I agree with the Prime Minister and what he has said.  I think Iran is making a big mistake.  We've been trying for a while now to have a nuclear agreement with Iran so that we can make the world a safer place, and now they’re going off aiding the Russians and making the world a less safe place.

 

First of all, we have to be able to counter the drones.  And that is something that we have to do, going into right here.  You see some success on the part of the Ukrainians already in stopping some of them.  But it's a dangerous technology, and it must be stopped.  And that they would align themselves with Russia in this regard should be a message to other countries who might want to refrain from voting in certain global bodies, or just in their relationship with Russia, to think again about it, because Iran has upped the ante.

 

And if you're concerned about Iran, you should be concerned about Iran supplying Russia with this technology.  The – again, we just want to be able to counter that, because it's very deadly.  It's very deadly. 

 

As far as my plans are concerned, I go where I'm invited.  The Prime Minister – the President of Ukraine called me to make sure I accepted the invitation of Speaker Stefanchuk to come here.  It is election time in our States.  So this is of the highest priority that I would take time away from that very important election to come here in gratitude to Croatia for hosting it and being so supportive of Ukraine in this battle for democracy, and also support of the courage of the people of Ukraine for the fight that they're making, and the leadership of the President of Ukraine and Speaker of the House Stefanchuk.

 

Q.  Madam Speaker, you just talked about the midterm elections.  Are you concerned in the case the GOP takes the Congress, what would be the result, what would be the effect for the U.S. aid for Ukraine?  And speaking about that, are you concerned about propositions at the ballot box?  Initiatives like ‘One More Mission’ and similar.

 

Speaker Pelosi.  Well, why don't we just stick with the subject at hand today, and your first question is to that point.  The – I believe that the support for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine, their courage, and the military support, refugee support and the rest that the U.S. is supplying – again, learning from some of the experiences of our European friends including and starting with Croatia – will not stop.  It is – support for Ukraine is bipartisan, it is bicameral.  That means in the House and in the Senate.  And it starts in the White House with our President.  His prioritizing this springs from the work that he has been doing with friends, allies – listening to them, having unity as we go forward on how we have to address this crisis.

 

So I wouldn't be – someone made a statement of, ‘We're not giving a blank check to Ukraine.’  We've never given a blank check to Ukraine.  The Ukrainians have dealt with any assistance we have given them – and I'm sure you have given them – with great integrity, with great compliance, with great accountability and with great transparency.  So the inference to be drawn from that is we wouldn't be giving them help.  That's not true.  And that there has been a blank check.  That's not true.  This has been a relationship of great integrity for democracy and freedom throughout the world.

 

Q.  So the whole Europe is struggling with an energy crisis, and Croatia’s partnership with the U.S. has proven to be an additional advantage.  The U.S. has also previously supported the construction of the LNG terminal on the island of Krk so my question is, what particular topics did you discuss in concerns of energy and the partnership of Croatia and the United States?

 

Speaker Pelosi.  Well, we can – we spent a great deal of time on that because, quite frankly, it is a source of great encouragement and joy to us to have this very strong relationship.  I'm the first Speaker of the House to visit Croatia, but this is not my first visit to Croatia.  I came during a time of war, and I saw what Croatian people were subjected to at the time and see now how that experience is benefiting the people of Ukraine and other champions for democracy throughout the world.  So thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for your courageous leadership in that regard. 

 

The Krk – that is complete now, right?  That’s complete, and that is – as I’ve said, this country is small enough to be resilient but big enough to be significant.  And I think that's one example of that, and to hear the plans that Croatia has for giving – in a very entrepreneurial way – giving others in the region the opportunity to be self-sufficient and not be subject to blackmail of any country for their energy products, including of course, starting with Russia in that regard. 

 

So it was a great compliment to Croatia for what they are doing, with great joy to behold the completion of Krk and what that means and to hear further plans that Croatia has as we go forward.  Of course, you're blessed with hydro and, again, an entrepreneurial spirit to develop other methods, other means of energy in addition to diversification, which is very important, not only for political reasons – not to be dependent on anyone – but for it to save the planet.  So thank you for your leadership in that regard, Mr. Prime Minister.

 

Prime Minister Plenković.  I used – I actually used well, I think, the presence of Ms. Pelosi here in Zagreb, by explaining to her the very big assistance aid programs for the citizens of Croatia.  I talked to her about what was the most important thing for me as the Prime Minister.  For me, the most important aspect in this situation where energy is used is weapons.  So what we wanted to do with this package of aid for citizens is to secure energy independence, to leave no citizen behind and to secure a price cap for our citizens for energy. 

 

At the same time, we're trying to act against inflationary pressures and help vulnerable citizens who always need their help, and now more than ever.  In this context, my first – the government in my first mandate resolved a decade-long discussion of whether we needed or we did not need the LNG terminal on Krk.  So this was resolved.  In our first term, we resolved this issue, we decided that we did need it.  We used 100 million euros from European funds.  We gave our own 100 million euros, and our energy companies provided another 30 million kuna. 

 

Now we decided to increase the capacities of our terminal from 2.9 cubic meters per year to 6.1 cubic meters through the European funds in the program REPowerEU.  Thanks to this, Croatia will be one of the key players in the region to secure gas, not just for our country, but also we will funnel it towards other countries in the region.  This has been one of the most important infrastructure projects in the previous years.  And in this respect, we want to keep working on developing the energy cooperation with the United States.

 

Speaker Pelosi.  Excuse me, Mr. Prime Minister, if I may, because I'm not sure if I completely answered one question.  The Prime Minister was very clear in how we go forward in terms of our relationship.  We talked about the visa waiver that has already been effected and how we need to have a double taxation agreement, and that will be soon.  We talked about the situation in Bosnia in terms of respect for Croatians there.  And we talked about Schengen and so he gave us a full agenda to take back to the President of the United States as well as to our Secretary of State and other relevant – and to the Congress of the United States.  Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.

 

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