The forum entitled “How to proceed after the European elections” was held on Friday, May 24th 2024 at the House of Europe in Zagreb, organized by the European Documentation Center and the Department for European Integration of the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO).
The participants of this forum, which was moderated by Ivanka Zorić, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) journalist, were: Vesna Pusić, former Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia; Prof.dr.sc. Zdravko Petak, Full Professor With Tenure, Faculty of Political Sciences; Hrvoje Butković, PhD, Scientific Advisor at IRMO; Željko Trkanjec, columnist of Jutarnji list, Hanza Media, and Maja Ljubić Kutnjak, head of the European Parliament’s Office in Croatia.
During the panel, the participants discussed the success and achievements of the European Union in the past five-year period, with a special emphasis on Croatia and the development perspectives of the EU after the European elections, which will be held on June 9th 2024.
Vesna Pusić highlighted the growth of right-wing populism in Europe and the possibility that the European People’s Party (EPP), currently the largest political option in the European Parliament, will form a coalition with right-wing parties after the elections. Prof.dr.sc. Zdravko Petak highlighted the significant growth of GDP in Croatia which reached almost 75% of the average EU’s GDP, stimulated by the successful withdrawal of resources from EU funds and funds allocated within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) 2021-2026.
Ph.D. Hrvoje Butković held a presentation on previous rounds of European elections and the work of the European Parliament in the past term. He emphasized the low turnout of citizens in the European elections in the new member states of the European Union, compared to the significantly higher turnout in the old members in Western Europe. Željko Trkanjec referred to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the security threat that the war in Eastern Europe represents for the European security architecture, as well as the work of the current tenure of the European Commission chaired by Ursula von der Leyen.
This forum was organized in cooperation with the European Documentation Center of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb.
