In his address, the outgoing speaker, Luka Bebic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said that MPs had been very active during the previous term and that he was proud of what had been achieved, citing Croatia's accession to NATO and the completion of membership negotiations with the European Union as the two most important strategic goals achieved since the country became independent 20 years ago.

"The Croatian parliament had an important role in that, and I am glad to say that there was always a consensus among the political parties regarding the national strategic goals," Bebic said.

Bebic recalled that about 500 bills had been passed as part of the process of legislative alignment with the European Union and that 300 had been adopted by the previous parliament. He said that the previous parliament had amended the Constitution to make it possible for Croatia to join the EU.

Bebic also said that through their work MPs had helped strengthen Croatia's position in the world.