The Image of EUrope in the Speeches of the Croatian Presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović

Abstract

How is EUrope represented in presidential speeches in Croatia? How has Europe’s image in Croatia changed between the achievement of candidate status in 2004 and the signing of the accession treaty in 2011? Which are, alongside a possible European identity and/or the identification with EUrope, the national Croatian identity moments in the speeches of the Croatian presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović? Are successes, developments and positive political processes understood as the result of the European Union contribution or as the result of Croatian efforts?
In order to be able to answer these questions, this study first introduces the historical and political background of the analysed speeches thereby reconstructing the Croatian process of EU convergence. Furthermore, the survey deals with relevant terms of collective, national and a possible European identity.
The analytic part of the article is set up by content and discursive analysis based on significant semantics, which are used in both speeches of the Croatian presidents. The material under scrutiny is analysed both from a univariate and bivariate perspective, being qualitatively illustrated by the used semantics.