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Zagreb - Croatia’s journey as a Member State is a success story, and the transformational effect of Europe is evident everywhere in Croatia, the European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, told the Croatian legislature on Tuesday.
Commenting on the transformation of Croatia during the first ten years of its membership in the EU, Metsola underscored that the effect is evident everywhere.
"From the enforceable rights that are afforded to its citizens, to the opportunities that EU membership offers to young and old alike, to tourism, the strength of your economy, to the investment in projects."
Membership is a win-win situation
"Croatia’s journey as a Member State is a success story," the EP president told the Sabor.
Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013.
"Your distinct chequered red and white - whether it is worn by Luka Modric or waved by Andrej Plenkovic - has become a symbol for all Europeans. A symbol showing that Membership is a win-win situation - it was never one sided."
Commenting on Pelješac Bridge which Croatia opened last July, Metsola called it "one of the largest ever EU investment in infrastructure."
"It linked the region of Southern Dalmatia with the rest of Croatia and with the rest of the European Union. It has tangibly improved the lives of so many, and symbolically it represents all that Croatia has been - a bridge builder between peoples and crystallises our joint commitment to bring people together."
"Era of polycrises that we live in"
Metsola said that currently Europe was facing several crises.
"Europe will need to call upon the resilience personified in the people of Croatia if we are to overcome the era of polycrises that we live in," she said, among other things.
"The illegal, brutal, invasion of independent Ukraine has changed the world we know. We have lived through price hikes and energy shortages. Too many still struggle to make ends meet. Too many feel excluded. Inflation remains an impediment for growth. Post-pandemic economic recovery remains too fragile.We have a climate crisis that we cannot neglect," she added.
"The challenges are many. And they are concurrent. But I know that we have the capacity, the resilience and the ability, to emerge stronger than before," Metsola underscored.
She thanked Croatia and its leadership for solidarity with Ukraine and "for your empathy with all those fleeing war."