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The Relevance of Croatia’s EU Membership for the Western Balkans and the European Union

The paper focuses on the political and economic relevance of Croatia’s EU membership at national, regional (Western Balkans) and the EU level. The national level dimension is discussed considering the fact that the country entered the Union in the period of the Euro zone crisis and during the prolonged recession of its own economy. The paper tries to elaborate to which extent this accession process was successful and what were its weaknesses. Secondly, positive and eventual negative impacts of Croatia’s accession for the Western Balkans’ region are briefly elaborated, particularly its political significance, stabilisation of the region, economic challenges, new chances in CEFTA, transfer of knowledge but also the continued “transition fatigue”. Finally, the impacts of new membership on further EU enlargement are discussed, stressing the need for introducing new mechanisms to speed up the accession of Western Balkan countries.

Impacts; Croatia; EU accession; Western Balkans

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