Croatia's Ministry of Finance published a readout of its delegation’s participation, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Marko Primorac, at the informal EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting in Warsaw on 11–12 April 2025. Discussions covered geopolitical challenges for Europe, the Savings and Investments Union initiative aimed at deepening EU capital markets, and potential financial models to support European security and defence. Ministers highlighted priorities including intensified military support for Ukraine, faster implementation of European readiness initiatives and defence-industrial development, and macroeconomic uncertainty linked to US trade policy. On financial-market competitiveness, exchanges focused on removing regulatory barriers to cross-border investment, promoting low-cost savings and investment products for citizens, and expanding securitisation to increase banking-sector financing capacity. On defence financing, the session included Norway’s finance minister Jens Stoltenberg and the United Kingdom’s finance minister Rachel Reeves, and drew on Bruegel Institute proposals ranging from expanding the European Defence Agency’s role with a new EU-style crisis instrument to creating a new European Defence Mechanism via an international agreement, alongside discussion of the European Commission’s White Paper on the future of European defence.

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