Institute for International Relations

Programme
Report on the Conference
Photos

International Conference
Croatia on the Eve of EU Accession: The Path of Reform
Zagreb, Croatia, 29th and 30th April 2010

Venue
Hotel Sheraton, Zagreb, Kneza Borne 2

Organizers

The Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, Vienna, Austria
French Institute for International Relations, Paris, France
Institute for International Relations (IMO), Zagreb, Croatia
The Croatian Center for the Renewal of Culture (COK), Zagreb, Croatia

Background

The upcoming Croatian membership in the European Union sheds lights on the issues of political and economic governance and necessary reforms part of the EU accession process. Additionally, Croatian entrance to the Union will have important consequences for the entire South-East Europe (SEE) and its EU perspective. Therefore, the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, French Institute for International Relations, Institute for International Relations (IMO) and Croatian Center for the Renewal of Culture (COK) decided to organize international conference in Croatia that will deal with prospects and challenges of the forthcoming EU membership and its impacts for Croatia and the SEE region. Austro-French Centre has shifted its attention towards the region since the 2004 Union's enlargement so this conference is a part of its activities to enhance the EU perspective of the entire region. Austro-French Centre organized similar conference in Serbia a year ago while this time focus is on Croatia and its European future.

Aims of the Conference

The aims of the conference are to engage policy-makers, experts and other actors involved in the EU accession processes to share their analyses and experiences of the current developments in Croatia and the region. Special emphasis is given on the various reform processes that Croatia faces whose implementation is additionally burdened with the impacts of the economic crisis. Moreover, because similar challenges and obstacles are shared by the entire region, the conference is a good occasion to enhance regional cooperation and exchange of experiences in the series of areas such as reform of police, justice and public administration or ways of tackling the crisis and securing preconditions for the economic growth. Foreign policy aspect of the conference will deal with the issues of regional cooperation, energy security, EU's foreign policy towards the region and Croatian position in the regional context after the EU accession.

For speeches and presentations delivered at the conference, please proceed to the
web-page of the main organizer.

Contact
Mrs.Petra Schuh-Leitner
Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe
petra.schuh@oefz.at, Fax: +43 1 533 89 27-10, phone +43 1 533 89 27-21