International trade of the Republic of Croatia after the accession to the European Union

Croatia became the 28th full member of the European Union on 1 July 2013. Together with its accession the country has gained an access to the European Union barrier-free market and it has also accepted European Union common trade policy towards third countries. Nevertheless the accession to the integration also meant leaving the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), whose members are very important for Croatia, exclusively in the field of trade. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis is to evaluate if the Croatian accession to the EU was more beneficial than staying in the CEFTA but only in terms of Croatian foreign trade. For ease of reading, the thesis is structured chronologically into two main parts. The focus of the first part of the thesis is on the period before the Croatian accession to the EU, more specifically on the process of trade liberalization, joining the CEFTA and on the requirements which Croatia had to fulfill to become the member of the EU. The focus of the second part of the thesis is on the period after the Croatian accession, concretely on the changes in trade with the members of EU, CEFTA and with third countries. Final conclusions are drawn based on the analysis conducted