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On March 10th Dr. Caroline Hornstein Tomić spoke at the panel discussion “Past and the future of German-Croatian relations” organized by the German Embassy in Zagreb. The panel was organized on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Germany and Croatia. The discussion covered a wide variety of issues: the war in Ukraine and Croatia’s own war experience, European Union enlargement perspectives, global challenges such climate change, energy security, digitalisation, the vitality of Croatian-German relations and the crucial role of Croatians who live in both societies, importance of internationalisation of the educational sector in Croatia and of transnational mobility to reverse brain drain and foster circular migration, and finally on the crucial role of civic education for sustaining democracy in Europe. The Panel was moderated by journalist Ivana Dragičević, while other participants of the panel were:

  • Dr. Mate Granić – Special Adviser to the Prime Minister for Foreign Policy, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia after international recognition and later Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia
  • Josip Juratović – Member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the German Federal Parliament with Croatian roots, President of the German Parliamentary Group for Southeast Europe and Vice-President of the North Adriatic Parliamentary Group
  • Boris Vrdoljak – a native of Stuttgart with Croatian roots, director of S+B Systemtechnik d.o.o. from Dugopolje founded in 2013
  • Dr. Lana Mayer – member of the German national minority in Croatia, former president of the European House Vukovar and current head of the Europe Direct Stuttgart Information Center
  • Ivan Marić – Former Fellow of the International Parliamentary Scholarship (IPS) of the German Federal Parliament, Adviser in the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia
  • Bruno Poldrugač– a pupil at the German School / Europe Campus in Zagreb

Author Sabrina Räpple

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