Croatia: welcome to the EU!

"Welcome to Croatia, the EU’s 28th Member State! We look forward to having you by our side as we head into our common future,” said Joseph Daul, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament on the occasion of Croatian entry into the European Union which will take place tomorrow 1 July 2013.

"It has been a long and sometimes difficult road, but the result is very well deserved. Croatia takes its rightful place among its European partners. I am very happy to see this happen because it is a reminder of why the EU was created in the first place, as a project of peace. Coming from Alsace that argument is for me still very much valid. I have seen what the European Union has done for my region, and I know what it can do for your country,” continued Daul.

"I would like to praise the generations of Croats that have been working towards the goal of EU membership, their work has paid off. And I would like to send a message: for Croatia, the European Union will be what you make off it. EU entry is not the end of the road, it is the beginning. The EPP Group stands ready to help our Croatian friends while their young country embarks on this path,” concluded Joseph Daul, Chairman of the EPP Group.