Education
Picula was born in Mali Lošinj and completed both primary and secondary education at Šibenik. He graduated sociology at Zagreb"s University.
Picula was born in Mali Lošinj and completed both primary and secondary education at Šibenik. He graduated sociology at Zagreb"s University.
He served as a Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003 and as a Mayor of Velika Gorica from 2005 to 2009. On 2014 European Parliament elections Picula received 125,603 preferential votes, which is more than all the other candidates who participated in this election. He also led the Social Democratic Party branch in Velika Gorica from 1997 to 2000.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
During his term in office, Croatia had several important foreign-relation successes, including becoming a candidate for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union and joining World Trade Organization.
He signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement, as the representative of Croatia, and submitted the country"s application for membership in the European Union. Later biography
During local elections in 2005, he was elected mayor of Velika Gorica. After Ivica Račan died in mid-2007, Picula ran to succeed him as president, but lost during the first round of elections to Zoran Milanović and Željka Antunović.
On 1 April 2012, Picula was appointed by the Sabor to be an (euro-)observer in the European Parliament. As a Social Democratic Party member, he joined the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (South&Doctorate).
He was elected as full euro-deputy in the European election of 14 April 2013, listed first on the Social Democratic Party coalition list.
He was re-elected as Member of the European Parliament in the European election of 25 May 2014, listed third on the Kukuriku coalition list.
After becoming involved in politics in the early 1990s, Picula served four consecutive terms as Member of the Croatian Parlament, having been elected in the 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2011 parliament elections. Picula is a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Social Democratic Party). He is a long-time member of the Social Democratic Party and was the party"s Secretary of international relations from 1993 to 2000.
He has been member of the Croatian Parliament for several mandates.
Member of the European Parliament
He became a member of the Committee for Foreign Affairs. On 1 July 2013, after Croatia joined the European Union, Picula took office as a full Member of the European Parliament (Member of the European Parliament).