Date: 2020-01-14
Mr President, welcome Andrej Plenković and welcome Croatia in the European Parliament. it is good to have you here, and having listened to Ursula von der Leyen's explanation describing your story, the Plenković story in a way, I think it is great to hear and for a lot of MEPs here in this room it is a strong motivation to hear this story. I want to add another story because we have a Vice-President of the European Commission sitting next to Ursula von der Leyen, the Croatian Commissioner who has a similar story: being elected as a Member of the European Parliament and now sitting in such an important role. So, that is a great symbol for what the Croatian Presidency means for the European Union and also for us as Members of the European Parliament. The Croatian Presidency is a great start for this decade because Croatia is the youngest member of the European Union. And first of all, the Croatian people showed that being a member is in the interest of the country. So that is what you showed them the last years as a member of the European Union. For example, after 2013 the country came out of a long recession, and almost 70% of all Croatia's exports go to the European Union and almost 3 000 Croatian SMEs can now benefit from the EU investment plan. So there are a few examples of this success story and that's why it is great to have Croatia now in the lead. We see in Croatia also see the beauty of Europe: on the one hand the Roman heritage in Split, the Austrian Hungarian Empire's influence in Zagreb, the Venetian architecture in Dubrovnik. So Croatia is in a way a good mirror for the European culture. And probably what the prime minister underlined in his speech: the most important thing for today is that Croatia is today an independent nation, not anymore part of any kind of Empire. Today Croatia is an independent nation, part of a family, respected as an equal partner on the European level. This strong European vision is also reflected in your programme. A Europe that gives an answer to the world's challenges. This is your motto, and in today's political and social turmoil, no single Member State stands a chance alone. The Croatian programme pinpoints all the critical challenges: climate change, transport, connectivity, enlargement, global relevance, digital revolution and the safety of our citizens. The key to face these challenges is in front of us, and that means unity. It was already also mentioned by Ursula von der Leyen. And I want to describe a little bit what we mean with unity. Unity for us means no first and second-class citizens in the European Union. So, for example, if Croatia wants to join the Schengen area, if Croatia wants to be a member of the euro area, then they have the full support of us as the European People's Party. Unity means to give a European perspective to the Western Balkans, several times already mentioned. We are aware that the decision of the European Council was a short-sighted decision to not opening the accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. I, as an EPP representative, am proud that all EPP governments in Council are supporting it and that's why I hope that Socialists will speak with the Danish friends and our Renew colleagues will speak with the Dutch and also with the French colleagues to open this path for North Macedonia and Albania to become members of the European Union. Unity means for us, 'one for all, all for one' on the global stage. We experienced in the last two weeks, the developments in the Middle East and we were close to a real military escalation in the last days. And yes the weapons were extremely loud in these days, but we can show together we speak louder than any weapon if we activate the strength of the whole European Union. And for us the first two weeks of this decade are a kind of a wakeup call that we have to strengthen now systematically the capacity of the European Union. To go further with a military pillar for the European Union and we have to put an end to unanimity in the decision-making process in the field of foreign affairs. We have to come to a majority making decisions; we have to bring the European voice to the global level. Unity means for us also on Brexit: our club, our rules. Andrej, you referred to the Eurosceptic parties in all our Member States. Nobody wants to punish our British friends in any way, some would say so, but it must be clear when you are not any more a member of the European Union, you're losing the advantages of the club. If this is not clear then we will face a lot of problems to convince our citizens that it is better to stay inside of the European Union. That is a challenging development ahead of us, but we have to be clear. And finally on the MFF, the budget must deliver. First, let's talk about tasks. If we establish a strong border protection then Europeans as a whole will be safer. And if we invest in research and innovation, then it will be better for all Europeans. So, let's stop the debate about net-payers and contributors and so on. Let's talk about the task which we have ahead of us and new tasks means for us also fresh money for the European Union. These are the challenges for the Croatian Presidency ahead of us. But it is time now that the youngest member will show the lead, that not only the old and probably big countries will show leadership. Now the youngest country can give us the proof that there is a future. And you know you can always count on your EPP Group to say it, in Croatian, svi smo s vama.