CROATIA’S CONVERGENCE WITH THE EU AND CEECS: BALANCING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND WELL-BEING

This study examines the impact of EU Cohesion Policy on Croatia's socioeconomic development since its 2013 accession, focusing on its convergence with Central and Eastern European and Southern Member States relative to the Old Member States and the EU-27. Using 11 indicators across four dimensionstechno-economic performance, innovation, institutional quality, and well-beingthe study benchmarks progress against Old MS and EU-27 averages in selected indicators.The results show that the CEECs and Croatia have outpaced the Old MS in most indicators, demonstrating both their convergence with the latter and their role as key drivers of economic and social progress within the EU.However, despite this progress, they continue to lag the Old MS and EU-27 averages in all dimensions, with the widest gaps in institutional quality and well-being.This highlights that robust economic growth has not been fully translated into improvements in the non-economic dimensions of development.