Zagreb - Sabor Speaker Gordan Jandroković and the visiting president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said on Tuesday that Croatia had reaped big economic benefits from its membership of the European Union in the last 10 years.
Croatia's record fast transformation is evident to everybody, Metsola told a joint news conference she held with Jandroković in Zagreb after their meeting in the Croatian national legislature.
There are no more barriers that used to exist, she said.
Croatia's Gross Domestic Product has increased and in parallel new opportunities are created, she added.
Jandroković underscored "positive economic figures" such as the fact that ten years ago Croatia's GDP per capita amounted to 50% of the European Union's average to rise by 25 percentage points to 75% currently.
Croatia has had the fastest recovery from the covid crisis among all the EU member states, he added
Croatia's GDP rises on a steady pace, unemployment is at a record low, and Croatia has taken advantage of the EU membership to build Pelješac Bridge, the Vc Corridor, the LNG terminal, to ensure the post-quake reconstruction and to implement other infrastructure projects that were financially too demanding and could be implemented only owing to the country's full EU membership, he said.
Jandroković and Metsola also discussed the current economic and political developments in the EU, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the situation in Croatia's neighborhood.
Jandroković reiterated Zagreb's readiness to support EU aspirants in the neighborhood.