Challenges Facing the EU

The Croatian Pan-European Union organised an international conference in cooperation with the International Pan-European Union under the title The Results of the Elections for the European Parliament 2019, and the Challenges the European Union Has to Face. Croatia Approaching Its Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Conference took place on 25-27 October 2019 in Split.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Goran Grlić Radman participated in the conference as a delegate of the President of the Republic of Croatia Ms Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and as a delegate of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. He presented Croatian state awards to the President of the International Pan-European Union, Alain Terrenoire, and the President of the German Pan-European Union, Bernd Posselt, for their services in promoting Croatia, and especially in advocating for Croatia in the process of joining the European Union.

The topic of the conference

This year is the year of elections for the European Parliament. The Croatian Pan-European Union plans several round-tables in its branches with the Croatian members of the European Parliament in the period of the preparations for the elections, and the celebration of the Day of Europe in May very close to the dates of elections. At our autumn conference we expect the participants to evaluate the results of the elections in Europe and the perspectives for the future work of the bodies of the European Union.

The elections are expected to be uncertain and tense in several member-states of the European Union. It will be interesting to see who has won the votes of European citizens, what will be the proportion of pro-EU and EU-sceptic representatives in the future European Parliament, and what can be expected as the prevailing trends in European social, economic, environmental, international or seccurity policies.

The Pan-European Union discussed a number of current challenges to the European Union in the previous conferences. It will be important to estimate the chances of possible aswers to them in the new political constellation: the migrations, Brexit, Euopeanism an nationalism, economic development and social justice, security, education, science and innovations, energy resources, technological development, climate changes, the organizational structure of the European Union, the enlargement to the South-Eastern European countries, the global power relations and the position of the European Union, etc.

A special topic of this conference, expected to be addressed by the representatives of Croatia, will be the Croatian preparations and possible action plans for the presidency of the Council of European Union in 2020. The conference has the task to shed light on these questions.

Programme (EN) (PDF)