The two-day gathering, arranged by the Austrian-French Centre for Accession to the European Union and the Paris-based French Institute for International Relations, brought together some 40 participants from about 10 European countries.
On the first day of the conference, experts from Austria, France and Southeast European countries will be discussing political and economic conditions for EU membership and regional cooperation.
The meeting was addressed by the French Ambassador to Croatia, Francois Saint-Paul, who said that the present crisis in the EU would not affect the efforts by the Southeast European countries to join the bloc.
Saint-Paul confirmed that the EU was ready to open membership talks with Croatia as soon as Croatia met the set criteria.
The conference closes on Tuesday with a discussion on the future of Southeast European countries, particularly their economic and political systems.