(Hina) A round table discussion on the effects of the first year of Croatia's membership of the European Union was held in Zagreb on Monday, involving, among others, President Ivo Josipović and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić.
"Euro-Atlantic integration was the only national political consensus, but our evolutionary contribution to the EU was overshadowed by the (economic) crisis and Lex Perković," Josipović said, referring to the European Arrest Warrant law that Croatia had amended just days before joining the bloc but later changed it in conformity with EU standards.
"One of the reasons such problems are happening to us is that we are one of the few countries that has not formulated its own Strategy 2020," the president said. In assessing the first year of EU membership, he said that "the situation is not rosy, but it is not totally gloomy either."
Pusić said that in the first year of membership Croatia had been more successful than other countries, citing Croatia's initiative towards the Western Balkans. "In the Western Balkans, no one acted as a stabiliser by articulating European policy or influenced the articulation of European policy in those countries. (...) Croatia has focused on its neighbourhood because you can't have a safe home unless your neighbour is safe."
Croatia also influenced the EU to change its views on Bosnia and Herzegovina, she said. "The Sejdić-Finci ruling can no longer be the only criterion to measure the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of our initiative was not to lower the criteria but for the European Union to act proactively and help Bosnia and Herzegovina meet those criteria," Pusić said.
Finance Minister Boris Lalovac said that the country was financially "shocked" by the entry into the EU, but that "the interest rate on borrowing now is at a record low", while Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Branko Grčić expressed optimism, saying that "it will certainly be better in the next five years."
Ivica Mudrinić of the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) said it was no wonder that there were no direct investments in Croatia "because it does not pay to invest in Croatia." "We joined the Union totally unprepared," he said.
"Political culture in Croatia is lower than necessary for a functioning democracy," political analyst Žarko Puhovski said. "The situation today is worse than before. The political and ideological picture shows that inter-ethnic relations have been upset and there is considerably greater repression against the minorities. The situation in education and science is the worst in the last 15 years," he said.
Puhovski said that the European Union was not to blame for the deepening of the depression, but served as a good excuse for it. He, however, added that the EU was to blame for "the reideologisation of the Cold War".
"There is debate on whether we should negotiate with the Russians about energy because that might anger the Americans. There hasn't been such primitivism since the 1960s," Puhovski said.
Psychologist Mirjana Krizmanić noted that in Croatian society "there exists depression that often turns into apathy, but it can also turn into anger and fury that can be manipulated. Such groups already exist and are being targeted by the Church."