For the next six months, the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, colloquially known as the "president of the EU", falls to Croatia. Today, prime minister Andrej Plenković said that it's "important for there to be dialogue" between Spain and Catalonia to find a "solution" to the conflict as far as European leaders are concerned.

In a press conference for the start of his country's presidency, in response to questions from journalists, Plenković called for a solution which "is in the interests of Spain and the Spanish citizens", but repeated the European line that the independence movement is an "internal affair". "Since I've been going to European Council meetings, I've never seen a single initiative to debate the internal affair in Spain, neither an attempt to discuss it or reach conclusions," he said.

The politician, a member of the centre-right party Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, has been prime minister of Croatia since 2016. Outgoing president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who earlier this week lost her re-election bid to centre-left challenger Zoran Milanović, was a member of the same party until 2015.

Croatia is the newest member of the EU, having joined in 2013, and this is its first turn at the rotating presidency of the Council. It officially took over from Finland on 1st January, but its term will in practice kick off this week, when all the members of the European Commission will visit Zagreb and meet with the government and parliament. In July it will hand over to Germany; Spain's next turn is in 2023.