On September 9th, our researcher Dženita Šiljak represented the Social Sciences Research Center (SSRC) at the UACES Annual Conference 2024, held in Trento and online. Šiljak co-presented her paper, “How Readiness for Integration Impacts Future Performance: The Cases of Slovenia and Croatia,” together with Kristian L. Nielsen from Corvinus University of Budapest.
Their research explores the varying degrees of readiness for EU integration between Slovenia and Croatia. Despite starting their economic transitions in the 1990s from similar positions, Slovenia has shown remarkable success post-accession, while Croatia remains one of the EU’s underperformers. The paper challenges the EU’s traditional enlargement approach, which relies on the Copenhagen Criteria and acquis, suggesting that economic performance is a better indicator of integration preparedness.
By introducing the concept of ‘Integration Maturity’, the authors argue that a candidate country’s long-term economic performance reflects its readiness for deeper integration, and that more emphasis should be placed on achieving sufficient competitiveness and convergence before accession.
The authors plan to submit their work to a Q1 journal, indicating its significance in academic discourse on EU integration.
For more information on the conference and a detailed overview of the sessions, please visit the UACES 2024 conference program.