EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESSES Where is Croatia?

The fact that by admission of Slovenia the borders of the European
Union almost reached Zagreb, repeatedly provoked a discussion about the reasons of lagging behind of Croatia. The author observes the basic reasons (beside the imposed war) in political atmosphere which was unacceptable for international community. Such atmosphere resulted in big mistakes of the entire (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and economic policy (tycoon privatization and the wrong stabilization level). Unacceptable political atmosphere is also shown by the fact that Croatian and Slovenian economists commonly prepared the starting bases of transition. Slovenia consistently implemented this concept, while Croatia completely ignored
it. The second wave of democratization (at the beginning of century)
created political atmosphere more acceptable for international
community and more adequate for economic development. Beside certain progress in economic sphere especially expressed are shifts in direction of somewhat faster integration into the European Union. In this sense the author was also encouraged by the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi at the XIII th World Congress of economists in Lisbon, September 9 to 13, 2002.