After Barroso delivered his 2013 State of the Union Address in which he made a rallying call to 'all those that care about Europe, whatever their political or ideological position, wherever they come from, to speak up for Europe', a debate ensued in the EU legislature, and Croatian MEP Picula criticised the EC President for ignoring in his speech the fact that Croatia became the 28th member of the Union on 1 July this year.
"Croatia is the first country to have acceded to the Union after the Lisbon Treaty went into force, and this is the joint success of Croatia and EU institutions as well as of your Commission," Picula said.
Picula stressed that the enlargement of the EU to include Croatia would facilitate efforts to seek European solutions and to defuse regional tensions in southeastern Europe. In this context, the Croatian MEP pushed for further enlargement of the bloc to include Croatia's southeastern neighbours.
MEP Suica warned against divisions between the rich and the poor in the EU.
"I hope that citizens in my Croatia will have the same opportunities as other members' citizens," she said, also advocating the continuation of the Union's enlargement.