Croatia's EU Path and the Prospects of Future EU Enlargement
Thursday, March 27 at 4 P.M.
2090B School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics Building
In this brown bag talk, Kristijan Ležaić (Seconded National Expert, European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport) will focus on Croatia's EU accession process, 10 years of membership, and the transformative effect that the EU membership had on (t)his country. As the still newest EU member state, Croatia is now seen as a poster child of EU integration and a benchmark for aspiring countries such as Ukraine and Western Balkans 6 (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia).
About the speaker: Kristijan Ležaić holds a master's degree in EU studies and international relations from CIFE (Nice/Berlin) as a scholar of Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. He has been working as a civil servant for almost 20 years in different Ministries of the Republic of Croatia and has held various management positions related to EU policies and funds. From being a member of a Municipal Assembly to representing the EU in the UN, Kristijan has been involved in policy making on the local, regional, national, European, and international level. He served as a diplomat and worked as a chair of the intermodal working group during the first Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2020, and contributed to a first historical deal with the European Parliament on a complex file. He also worked extensively with Western Balkan countries and spent 1.5 years in the international organization “Transport Community” in Belgrade. He cooperated with many institutions and universities, such as the University of Florida, USA, and the Brussels School of Governance, on EU-related topics, such as organizing simulations of trilogues and giving lectures on EU enlargement with a focus on Croatia. He currently is working in Brussels as a Seconded National Expert in the European Commission, DG MOVE, and is an occasional speaker in the Commission’s Visitors Centre.