Croatia’s Accession to the Euro-Zone and Schengen Area – Potential Impact on Countries in Southeast Europe
The Institute for Development and International Relations, in co-operation with the Austrian Ministry of Defence and its National Defence Academy and PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes, organised the 45th Workshop of the PfP Consortium Study Group ‘Regional Stability in Southeast Europe’. The workshop entitled ‘Croatia’s Accession to the Euro-Zone and Schengen Area – Potential Impact on Countries in Southeast Europe’ was held in Split from 14th – 17th September 2023. The event gathered knowledgeable representatives from academia, NGO, state administration and media sector from different EU countries as well as from the candidate and potential candidate states from Southeast Europe.
Over the course of the last 20 years, Croatia gained extensive experience in various aspects of democratic transition and European integration. This could be a very useful asset both for its foreign policy calibration in regional and wider European context and for transformational processes in countries in Southeast Europe. Therefore, the workshop focused on the potential impact of Croatia’s finalisation of the EU integration process (Euro-zone and Schengen Area) on countries in Southeast Europe, the activities it may employ to foster the process, the contemporary challenges to the current Schengen Area and Euro-zone, as well as country-specific obstacles to a more sustainable transformation process in the period to come.
The key-note address was provided by the State Secretary for Europe, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Ms Andreja Metelko-Zgombić.
