TEPSA and its Croatian member, the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), organised the Croatian EU Pre-Presidency Conference “Europe at a Crossroads” on 28-29 November 2019. Croatia will assume the Presidency of the EU Council on 1 January 2020. This will be the first Presidency since the country joined the EU in 2013. It will also be the first Presidency working from its start with the new EU institutions, after the EU elections. The Croatian Presidency will have to deal with important topics on the EUʼs agenda such as negotiations over the Multi-Annual Financial Framework or the consequences of Brexit.
The aim of the TEPSA Pre-Presidency Conference is to bring together researchers from the EU member states and the EU candidate countries, policy-makers, media, civil society organisations, and the broader public in order to discuss agenda and challenges of the upcoming Croatian Presidency. The Pre-Presidency Conference addressed the priorities of Croatian Presidency such as further EU enlargement, strengthening of the EUʼs connectivity, demographic and migration challenges. During the Conference, TEPSA also presented its traditional TEPSA Recommendations for the incoming Council Presidency to Andreja Metelko-Zgombić, State Secretary for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia.
The conference was held under the patronage of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. It was supported by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union, and the SEnECA and InDivEU projects in the framework of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Additional supporters and sponsors include the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Friedrich Ebert Foundation from Zagreb, UK Federal Trust, Croatian Post Bank, HEP Group, as well as the Spanish and Finnish Embassies in Zagreb.
Download the conference agenda here. A detailed report of the conference is available here.
