Croatia at the doorstep of the European Union: a worrying lack of enthusiasm?

BÖLL LUNCH DEBATE

Contrary to the years when the EU accession negotiations began, the support of Croatian citizens for EU membership is - according to the recent Eurobarometer - at one of the lowest levels in the history of the accession process. The nine-month stalemate in the accession negotiations and in the face of the global economic crisis as well as the border dispute with Slovenia have clearly taken their toll. The lack of public enthusiasm for EU accession in spite of the broad support of Croatian political parties underlines the thesis that EU accession is an elite driven process and shows that the trust of Croatian citizens in their democratic representation is low. This undermines the democratic legitimacy of the accession process on a domestic level and carries the risk that the consensus among the citizens on EU membership will get lost. With the election of the new president Ivo Josipovic from the opposition party SDP and prime minister Jadranka Kosor from the ruling conservative Party HDZ, EU accession seems to have gained momentum again, but there is still a long way to go in terms of reforms of the public administration and the judiciary and in the fight against corruption. Even though the negotiations are in the very last phase with only three chapters to be opened, the country still waits for the constitutional reform which is necessary to allow Croatia to join the EU even with modest public support.

What are the remaining challenges for Croatia and the EU in the framework of the accession negotiations? How strictly can the established benchmarks be met in the course of 2010?
What is the current interaction between the speed of the process and the quality of the reforms both from the EU's and Croatia's perspective and what are the implications?
Could there be any detrimental effects of EU membership on the reform potential in the country in the post-accession phase and, if so, how can they be minimised and monitored? What role will EU conditionality play and what will it look like?

Welcome:
Claude Weinber, Director Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union, Brussels

Speakers:

- Dr. Dejan Jovic, University of Stirling (UK) and Zagreb, chief political analyst for the president of Croatia
- Josip Kregar, professor faculty of law, University Zagreb and vice-president Zagreb City Assembl
- Vladimir Drobnjak, chief negotiator for the accession negotiation with the EU for Croatia(tbc)
- Dirk Lange, European Commission, DG Enlargement, Directorate B, Unit B.1 - Croatia, head of unit

Moderator:

Vedran Horvat, head of office in Croatia, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Zagreb