The SEEurope Network, which focusses on workers’ participation issues, met in Zagreb, Croatia on 27-28 October 2014. The meeting was joined by 10 Croatian guests, including representatives of the two largest trade union confederations and academic experts. In the wake of the Croatian accession to the EU, this meeting enabled an intensive exchange about current and future issues in Croatian and European industrial relations.

The first day of the network meeting was spent exploring key issues in Croatian industrial relations, Croatia’s role and aspirations in the EU, and key items on the trade union agenda. Croatia is one of 19 European countries with board-level employee representation; SEEurope network members thus had the opportunity to hear more about actual practice and the specific provisions on workers’ participation in the new Croatian Labour Act. The second day focussed on discussing the preliminary results of information and consultation rights in the Takeover Bids Directive and Cross-border Mergers Directive, as well as the impact of Cross-Border mergers on board-level employee representatives.