Economic opportunities and challenges of membership for Croatia - EU as a chance

The objective of presentation was to discuss the opportunities, challenges and expected consequences of the Croatia’s EU accession. The EU membership is a big, historical step forward for Croatia. However, there are also some lost chances during negotiations, one of them being the fact that legal harmonisation and institution building were not adequately linked with structural reforms. Unlike the fifth enlargement when the new members benefited from the synergy of overall positive economic climate, Croatia is entering the EU after five years of prolonged recession of its' economy, while the EU is struggling to recover of the economic crisis’ consequences. In the short run Croatia might benefit from the structural and cohesion funds, depending on its’ absorption capacity. Some negative trade effects are expected due to the obligation to leave CEFTA upon accession.