Chapter “Competitiveness, Convergence, and Innovation”

This chapter assesses the impacts of the first decade of EU membership on Croatia’s economic competitiveness, convergence, and innovation processes. The text explores both the benefits and challenges of EU membership so far and provides analyses of adjustments of institutions and business sectors to converge to the EU development level and narrow the existing gap. When summing up and contextualising the results, it appeared that the whole decade of Croatia’s EU membership (2013–2023) was overshadowed by coping with crises’ impacts of various sorts and lengths. Despite making evident progress, the extent and pace of economic convergence and development during the first decade did not measure up to that of other EU new member states. The circumstances were unfavourable and unprecedented (COVID-19 pandemic, earthquakes, war in Ukraine), which significantly hindered the progress achieved. In conclusion, we have determined a set of policy priorities that have the potential to bring about significant economic and social advantages from being a part of the European Union.