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Citizens' Dialogue in Zagreb, Croatia, 3 March 2014

03/03/2014

On 3 March Commissioner Mimica participated in the first Citizens' Dialogue to be organised in Croatia. Over 400 citizens from across Croatia attended the event in person with many others sending in questions via social media. The event was webstreamed live and broadcast in its entirety on national television that evening.

The debate was based around three themes:

Croatia - nearly one year as an EU Member State: what difference has this made to you? What has gone well and where have your expectations not been met?
Economic crisis – what should the European Union and EU Member States be doing more to bring back growth?
Consumer policy – what are your expectations as a European consumer?

A lively discussion took place on each of these themes with questions ranging from the efficiency of the Croatian judicial system to Trans-Atlantic trade and investment negotiations, and from how to combat youth unemployment to the quality of consumer products on the Croatian market.

The Commissioner passed three main messages to the audience.

The voice of citizens is important and this dialogue is one way to have that voice better heard - all the citizens' messages and observations are very appreciated and useful for further work of both Brussels and Zagreb.
To get the best out of EU membership and to leave the economic crisis behind requires making the best use of the opportunities available. This applies to citizens but also local and national government.
EU consumer policy is there to ensure consumers are safe and that they can make purchases confident their rights will be respected. In Croatia more needs to and will be done to make consumers aware of these rights and to strengthen their enforcement.