Roberta METSOLA, EP President meets with Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg. Extracts from the arrival, welcome and roundtable. After the meeting, Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ gives a statement.

statement

meeting

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

EU - Croatia (T)

JANDROKOVIC, Gordan (HR)

president's agenda

Roberta METSOLA, EP President meets with Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament: arrival, welcome, roundtable and joint statement

Roberta METSOLA, EP President welcomes Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament ( x shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you very much. Thank you for attending the 70th anniversary commemoration of the European Parliament. As we spoke and as I reiterate, the EP stands behind Croatia's accession to Schengen area on the 1st of January. This Parliament has been consistent that when alll requirements are met, then the political decisions should be taken and we stand with you, as your partner throughout what has already been a long journey, but we'll hopefully result in a sucessfull one.

SOUNDBITE (Croatian), Gordan JANDROKOVIC, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Greetings, everyone. It is a great honour and a pleasure to be in Strasbourg today and meet the President of the European Parliament, Mrs Metsola. We had a very friendly open conversation. I thanked the European Parliament's support for Croatia when it comes to joining the Schengen area, as well as the President personally for her and her contributions. We also talked about cooperation between the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament. We also touched on the last major parliamentary summit in Zagreb. We also discussed the situation in our neighbourhood in Southeast Europe where we expressed hope that this space would step more strongly towards the European Union in the foreseeable future. Of course taking into account that if we from the EU and are not active enough that space will remain open then for some others who will then spread their influence.

SOUNDBITE (Croatian), Gordan JANDROKOVIC, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Mainly once again thank the President of Parliament for very clear messages when it comes to membership of Croatia in Schengen and I look forward to the imminent visit of the President of the Parliament to Zagreb.