"Croatia on the Eve of EU Accession: The Path of Reform"

Zagreb, 29. and 30. April 2010

The Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe has, over the past years, concentrated its work on promoting the accession of the new democracies of East and Central Europe into the European Union. Since 2004 it is turning much of its attention to the problems faced by the countries of the Western Balkans. After a major international conference about Serbia organized in 2009, the Centre focuses in 2010 on economic and geostrategic developments in Croatia. The choice of this topic reflects a number of priorities in European and international politics regarding South-Eastern Europe and also responds to some of the latest developments within the context of Croatia’s EU Accession.

The international conference thus organised in this respect by the Austro-French Centre is entitled:

“Croatia on the Eve of EU Accession: The Path of Reform”

and was held on April 2010, 29th and 30th in Zagreb.

During the Conference, Working of Democracy, Reforms of Police and Justice, Governance of State as well as Croatia’s Position in the Balkan Region and its Contribution for the Europe of Tomorrow were examined on the basis of an analysis of the current situation. Main topics as regional cooperation, relations with its neighbouring countries as well as challenges for the EU-accession were discussed during this 2-days conference.

Croatia’s challenging reform process to meet EU accession requirements, its present neighbourly relations and its future role in the EU’s enlargement policy were the main subjects of a major international conference that took place in Zagreb. This event gave the opportunity to high-ranking decision makers and key experts from Croatia, Austria, France and some other South-Eastern European countries to explore these challenging questions and to develop new ideas with regard to them.

Among other distinguished speakers, H.E. Ivan ŠIMONOVIĆ, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej PLENKOVIĆ, State Secretary for European Integration (Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration), Davor LJUBANOVIĆ, State Secretary for the Croatian Ministry of Public Administration, Vesna PUSIĆ, Member of the Croatian Parliament and President of the National Committee for Monitoring the EU Accession Negotiations, Ursula PLASSNIK, Member of the Austrian Parliament and former Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivan VEJVODA, Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy in Belgrade and H.E. Vladimir DROBNJAK, Chief Negotiator for Accession Negotiations with the European Union, participated in the conference.

This high-level event was organized by the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), in collaboration with the Zagreb-based Institute for International Relations (IMO) as well as the Croatian Center for the Renewal of Culture (COK) and with the friendly support of the Volksbank Hrvatska.

The fact that about 180 persons were present at the first conference day, and about 100 persons at the second conference day, demonstrated the importance of the discussed topics. The Medias were also very well represented by several journalists from Newspaper and Television.

A Report about the conference is available on our homepage.

In Croatia the Austro-French Centre was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (by providing the venue of the Reception) as well as by the Embassies of Austria and France, represented by their Ambassadors H.E. Jan KICKERT and H.E. Jérôme PASQUIER. We want especially thank the First Secretary of the French Embassy, Ms. Salina GRENET, as well as the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Embassy, Mr. Michael KAINZ.

The “Institute for International Relations (IMO)”, under the direction of Mrs. Sanja TIŠMA, was one of the co-organisers of the conference, and we want to thank Mrs. Višnja SAMARDŽIJA and Mr. Mladen STANIČIĆ, and especially their assistant, Mr. Saša ČVRLJAK, for all the support and help during the conference preparations, but also during and after the conference.

The “Croatian Center for the Renewal of Culture (COK)” was the other co-organiser and we want to express our thanks to the President of COK, Mr. Stephen BARTULICA.

Last but not least we would like to thank the Volksbank Hrvatska - represented by its Chairman of the Board, Mr. Tomasz TARABA, for having sponsored our conference.

In preparing this Conference, the Austro-French Centre in Vienna and its French partner IFRI (French Institute for International Relations) in Paris, worked in close cooperation with the French and Austrian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the Council and the Commission of the EU, as well as several international organizations operating in the Western Balkan.

For further information, please contact the organiser of this conference, Mrs. Petra SCHUH-LEITNER ( Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spam Bots geschützt, Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie es sehen können , by Fax: +43 1 533 89 27-10 or by phone +43 1 533 89 27-21).