Addressing participants, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said she was aware of the public's fears that by joining the EU Croatia would "lose the sovereignty which we won only recently and bloodily," but underlined that as a full member of the EU Croatia would be able to upgrade this sovereignty.
The National Forum on Accession to the European Union is an initiative launched by Grabar-Kitarovic's ministry to inform the public about the accession process and transfer the public debate on this issue onto the local level so that all parts of society could be involved.
A state secretary at the Culture Ministry, Jadranko Antolovic, said that on the cultural front EU membership would make it easier for Croatia to preserve its national identity because the Union's policy is oriented to the protection of cultural diversity.
Istria County prefect Ivan Jakovcic said identity could be divided into the local, regional, national and European levels, and that with its recognisable regional identity Istria could contribute to Croatia's as well as Europe's identity.