Višnja Samardžija with Croatia while negotiations were opened at the intergovernmental conference in Brussels on 4 November 2004. By November 2006, the multilateral and bilateral screening was completed and one chapter(Science and Research) was opened and provisionally closed. As a candidate country for EU accession, Croatia has already undergone comprehensive and demanding reforms. Implementing the Lisbon Strategy and its goals for Croatia is of at least three-fold advantage. It means overcoming transition hardships, assisting in meeting Copenhagen accession criteria, and catching up with the EU competitiveness level that would bring long-term prosperity. Therefore, upgrading of its engagement in all activities related to the Lisbon Agenda is needed. It will not be a process of sequencing, but rather a parallel process to our accession negotiations. This includes embarking on the Lisbon implementation even before Croatia becomes an EU member, though it is not expected to constitute additional criteria or economic objectives for accession. All candidate countries face the unique opportunity to combine their efforts to meet the Copenhagen economic criteria in full with their efforts to meet the goals of the Lisbon Agenda. In this interrelated endeavour they have substantially increased their interest, contribution and understanding of the Lisbon Process. It is no longer just the business of member states- it is becoming a substantial part of the economic policy of the candidate countries themselves ( Mimica). The strategic approach Being a candidate country, Croatia does not share the same responsibilities regarding the Lisbon Strategy objectives as the EU member states. However, by entering into negotiations on full membership with the EU, Croatia committed itself to accepting the acquis communautaire, but also to harmonising policies with EU programmes and strategic documents. Croatia is therefore facing the challenge of(voluntarily) approaching the Lisbon goals together with the basic obligation to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria, although both challenges are not an obligation at this stage 5 . As was already mentioned, the acquis under the Lisbon Strategy consists largely of policy principles and policy recommendations which are reflected in 5. Unless otherwise stated, the continuation of this paper brings the main issues underlined in the conference presentation by Višnja Samardžija, which have not been presented in a separate paper in this publication for technical reasons. 20