Thirty-three participants from all three generations of the Academy for Public Policy (APP) were part of the Study Visit to Zagreb, Republic of Croatia, during the period 7 – 12 May 2023.
This study visit enabled the APP participants to be introduced to different political and institutional modes of functioning of the political systems in Croatia, and was organized in cooperation with the Forum for Reasonable Policies (FRP) from Skopje and its Croatian peer organization, the Academy for Political Development (APD), a renowned association that organizes schools and seminars for young politicians in Croatia.
The APP participants who represented 10 political parties from North Macedonia (SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE, LDP, DOM, DUI, Aliance for Albanians, Alternativa, Besa, Movement for National unity of the Turks, Party of the Vlachs and one civic initiative “For our Kumanovo”, during the first day of the visit in Zagreb, attended an Alumni Conference between the APP and APD.
The conference covered two important topics: Political participation, party politics and public policy development in South-East Europe and Party Youths – Learning from each other in enabling better societies. These topics provoked very interesting discussions among the participants, who debated on the challenges and opportunities in their policies and the importance of cooperation between the various political parties.
During their stay in Zagreb, the APP participants met with the largest political parties in Croatia, such as the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), from whom they heard about their parties’ ideologies, the use of public policy tools, public relations strategies and the position of youth forums, as well as their activities.
Furthermore, our participants explored some of the most interesting and unique aspects of Croatian culture and politics, by meeting the MP Marin Miletic, member of the movement MOST, in the building of the Croatian Assembly. Followed by a meeting with the Mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomashevic (APR alumni), where the APP participants discussed about local politics and local elections, political campaigning and the success of Mozemo! (political party) in the last local elections.
During the fourth day of the visit, the participants had the privilege to visit the President’s Office and have a meeting with the President of Republic of Croatia, H.E. Zoran Milanović. The main topic of discussion was the European perspective of the countries of Southeast Europe, with special emphasis placed on the process of North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union as a full member.
In the field of lobbying and communications, the APP alumni met with couple communications and PR agencies, with whom they discussed the latest trends in public relations, marketing, strategic and crisis communication, digital marketing, as well as the importance of EU integration and the benefits of effective lobbying.
