On 1 April 2012,as part of preparations for Croatia's full EU membership,Sabor appointed Picula to the European Parliament as one of the 12 "observer" members from Croatia.[8] At the first Croatian European Parliament elections in 2013,he was elected to the remainder of the Parliament's 2009–2014 term,and then again to two full terms in 2014 and 2019.
Foreign Policy
Picula has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET)[9] since 2013 where he currently serves as a senior member responsible for coordinating the work of the Socialists and Democrats in the Committee.[10] He is a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with the United States of America (D-US),[11] and as such,in June 2020,had been appointed the European Parliament’s first standing rapporteur for relations with the USA.[12]
Picula has been a strong proponent of the EU enlargement,and has held it is EU’s most successful policy and most powerful tool for promoting democracy,prosperity and peace.[13] In November 2019,AFET appointed him to the position of the Rapporteur for Recommendations on the Western Balkans ahead of the May 2020 Summit in Zagreb.[14] The key recommendations of the Report were to ensure that the improved negotiation methodology has the full EU membership as its ultimate goal and that the EU provides clear and predictable rules and criteria and applies them consistently,thereby restoring its credibility.[15] His dedication to EU –Western Balkans relations is also reflected in his memberships in the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina,and Kosovo (DSEE)[16] as well as in the Delegation for relations with Serbia.[17] In 2019 he was named Co-Rapporteur for IPA III Financial Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance[18] and Standing Rapporteur on Montenegro.[19] As of January 2020 he is also the Chairman of the Working Group for the Western Balkans,one of the five AFET working groups.[20]
Picula has dedicated much of his parliamentary work to regional development policies with a particular emphasis on European islands. In 2014,he helped establish the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas,Rivers,Islands and Coastal Areas (SEARICA). After serving a full term as its Vice-Chair in charge of islands,he was elected its Chair in 2019.[24] Picula gained prominence as island policy champion when in 2016 he secured 2 million EUR for establishing the Clean Energy for EU Islands (CE4EUI) Secretariat through an amendment to the EU budget.[25] In 2019,Picula proposed two additional amendments worth a total of 4 million euros. After an evaluation by the Commission and lengthy negotiations within the European Parliament and with the Council,Picula secured additional 2 million EUR for the CE4EUI Secretariat,and new 2 million EUR for the same model to be applied to all rural areas.[26] Success of these initiatives led to signing of The Memorandum of Split calling for a long-term framework for cooperation to advance the energy transition for European islands,and the inclusion of the Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative in the European Green Deal.[27]
Picula has also been appointed EP Rapporteur for cohesion policy commitments on climate change,which will be one of the most important tools in the coming years when it comes to monitoring whether taxpayers' money is really invested in energy and environmentally sustainable projects and businesses.[28] He is a substitute member of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI)[29] and Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI),[30] and a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.[31]
Earlier Parliamentary Terms
During the 7th and 8th Parliamentary terms he served as the Chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina,and Kosovo (2014–2019),substitute member of the Delegation to the EU-SerbiaStabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (2014–2019),and was responsible on behalf of the S&D Group for a number of reports such as those on the Accession Agreements with Ukraine and with Northern Macedonia,[32] and the European Defence Union.[33] He was briefly a substitute member of Committee on Petitions (PETI),and Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean in 2013 and 2014. From 2014 until 2017,he was also a member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE).[34][35]
Recognition
In 2017,The Water Saving Project,initiated and coordinated with the European Small Island Federation and funded by MEP Picula,was awarded the “Greening the Islands Award”.[36] The project aimed at taking action at the other end of the water problem:instead of encouraging water production,it aimed to reduce the use of freshwater through clever communication,smart engineering and wise governance,keeping in mind possible disadvantages such measures might have on people and businesses. The project initially gathered 8 islands from 4 different EU member states:Lastovo and Vis from Croatia,Houat and Sein from France,Ithaka and Tilos from Greece,Cape Clear and Inis Oirr from Ireland.[37]
In 2018,Picula was voted “MEP of the year”by the European Small Island Federation,an organization representing 359,000 islanders on 1,640 small European islands.[38]
Dr Timothy Charles Ayrton Tannock is a British psychiatrist,Conservative Party politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London.
Ulrike Lunacek is an Austrian politician who served as State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in 2020. She is a member of the Austrian Green party The Greens –The Green Alternative,part of the European Green Party.
Indrek Tarand is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is an Independent politician,but a member of the European Green Party.
Victoria Grace Ford is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Minister of State for Development since 2022. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since 2017. She is a former investment banker,district councillor,and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2009 to 2017.
Arnaud Danjean is a French politician of the Republicans (LR) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since the 2009 European election,representing France's East constituency. He was elected a member of the Burgundy Regional Council on 21 March 2010.
Andrey Kovatchev,is a Bulgarian politician,Member of the European Parliament,a federalist and Head of the Bulgarian Delegation in the EPP Group in the European Parliament. Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a chairman of the Union of European Federalists in Bulgaria. Since 2011 he has also been its vice-president. In January 2012 he was elected vice-chair of AFET - Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.
Axel Voss is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. He has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2009 and became coordinator of the European People's Party group in the Committee on Legal Affairs in 2017. His parliamentary work focuses on digital and legal topics.
Biljana Borzan is a Croatian physician and politician who has been member of the European Parliament for Croatia since 1 July 2013,having been elected to the position at the 2013,2014 and 2019 elections. She is a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) and serving as the Vice President of the Socialists &Democrats in the European Parliament with the portfolio "New Economy that works for all" since 2019.
Angelika Werthmann is a Member of the European Parliament since 2009,representing Hans-Peter Martin's List in Austria. Between 4 July 2012 and 7 April 2014 she was a member of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament.
Siegfried Mureșan is a Romanian economist and politician,vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) since November 2019,Vice-Chair of the European People's Party Group in the European Parliament and member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was elected as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Romania in 2014 and 2019. Previously,he was a member of the People's Movement Party (PMP) between 2014 and 2018 and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) before 2014.
Bodil Valero is a Swedish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 until 2019. She is a member of the Green Party,part of the European Green Party. In parliament,Valero served as the green coordinator in the Security and Defence Committee (SEDE).
Eva Maydell is a Bulgarian politician. She is a member of the European Parliament and President of the European Movement International
Željana Zovko is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croat diplomat and politician. Since 2016,she has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Croatia.
Tiemo Wölken is a German lawyer and politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 14 November 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party,part of the Party of European Socialists.
Barbara Lochbihler is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2019. She is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens,part of the European Green Party.
Petr Ježek is a former Czech politician and diplomat. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 to 2019,representing ANO 2011. While an MEP,he chaired a Parliamentary Committee and an External Delegation,and was ranked as the 20th most influential MEP of 751 by the Vote Watch Europe analyst group.
The ninth European Parliament was elected in the 2019 elections and is to last until the 2024 elections.
Christophe Hansen is a Luxembourgish politician belonging to the Christian Social People's Party (CSV),of which he is Secretary-General.
Daniel Freund is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since July 2019. He is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens at the national level and sits with the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
