Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Hrvoje Marušić participated in a round table on “The EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and the Role of Croatian Universities in the Drafting of EU Strategies”, organized by the University of Rijeka and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs 11 April in Rijeka. The round table gathered representatives of Croatian universities, cities, counties and professional associations, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Tourism. The meeting discussed the prospects of cooperation between the academic community and local administration in the realization of Croatia’s active role within EUSAIR.
Keynote addresses were delivered by Rijeka Mayor Obersnel and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County representative Krpan. Rijeka University Rector Pero Lučin underlined the importance of regional smart growth strategies for the economy and tapping into the EU funds. He also stressed the importance of clusters, small and medium sized entrepreneurships, public institutions and knowledge centres as key components of smart specialization.
On the topic of “EUSAIR – Future, Purpose, Consequences”, Marušić said that “macro-regional strategies are not some new kind of administrative-territorial formations, but a synergy of development strategies to deal with issues that are better solved through cooperation between countries and various levels of government, including universities. EUSAIR facilitates cooperation by improving the policies efficiency on the EU, national and local level, using the existing policies and programmes and creating a synergy between them,” he said.
“Croatia is making sure that the national priorities are reflected in the 2014-202 national strategic documents for using the EU funds, while harmonization with the macro-regional priorities increases the chances of tapping into them,” said Marušić. Outlining the priorities within individual EUSAIR pillars, Marušić said that the adoption and implementation of the new macro-regional strategy would stimulate growth and sustainable development of the region. He stressed the importance of adapting Croatia’s development to the EU cohesion policy and the Strategy 2020, whose one of the goals includes investing a certain percentage of GDP into research and development. Croatia will implement that through smart specialization and the Horizon Programme. “It is important that local and regional self-governments and universities are involved in said processes,” Marušić said. Expressing Croatia’s full support for further enlargement, the assistant minister said Croatia strongly supported EUSAIR as a catalyst of continuation and revitalization of enlargement, and supported the participation of all the countries in the region in EUSAIR (Macedonia, Kosovo).