Croatia

Cultural, scientific, technical and decentralized cooperation

Long-standing cultural exchanges exist between France and Croatia. The Institut Français in Croatia (IFC), which celebrated its centenary in 2021, was one of the very first in the French cultural network in Europe. Following the “Rendez-vous” French cultural season, which was held in 2015 and created a new momentum for the various strands of French-Croatian cooperation, the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and Rijeka being named a European Capital of Culture in 2020 were extremely fruitful for our bilateral trade.

Institutional cooperation provides support to civil society actors, focusing on the three following priorities: gender equality, environment and climate, and tolerance and reconciliation.

In the academic field, new partnerships – some bilateral (Split/Aix-Marseille, Rijeka/Sciences Po Bordeaux) and others in the framework of the “European Universities” initiative (Split/Brest, Zadar/La Rochelle), – have recently been added to older cooperation programmes, such as the double-degree Master’s in Biotechnologies, organized between Zagreb and Orléans, and which saw its tenth graduating class in 2019.

Croatian student mobility to France, which had steadily risen by 25% between 2010 and 2016, has declined by 15% in five years: 208 students enrolled in 2020-2021, against an unfavourable demographic backdrop. 
The Hubert Curien Partnership, “Cogito”, the main instrument for scientific cooperation, has supported 116 projects since its launch in 2002.

French is the fourth most-taught language behind English, German and Italian. Promotion of the French language is done by the network of Alliances Françaises (Dubrovnik, Osijek, Split, Rijeka and Zagreb) and the seven language teaching assistants working in schools and universities. Some 10% of learners sit the DELF for schools test; the Croatian ministry’s commitment to this organization was made official in March 2019, with the signature of a bilateral agreement. Croatia, which has been an observer at the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF) since 2004, has provided French-language training for over 2,000 Croatian civil servants since 2002, in partnership with the IOF. The French International School in Zagreb (EFIZ), together with the German International School in Zagreb, is the most integrated of five Eurocampuses in the world.

With regard to decentralized cooperation, partnerships have been created between Rueil-Malmaison and Dubrovnik, the Saône-et-Loire department and the county of Varaždin, the Communauté d’Agglomération du St-Quentinois (CASQ) and Dugo Selo, Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Pula, and Nice and Opatija. This fosters exchanges of experience concerning heritage conservation, culture, gastronomy, the environment and digital technology.