Notes on the Contributors Hrvoje Butković Hrvoje Butković is a research assistant in the Department for European Integration at the Institute for International Relations(IMO) in Zagreb. Since 2002 he is enrolled in the postgraduate programme in European Studies at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. He published papers on European integration and participated in development and implementation of several research projects focusing on Croatian integration into the EU. His current research focus includes regionalism in Europe and the EU environmental policy. Mirko Hempel Mirko Hempel, studied economics and African sciences at the University of Leipzig and graduated in 1990 with an honours diploma. The same year he joined the German Development Institute(GDI) in Berlin as a research fellow to conduct a study on the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in Seoul and Pusan, South Korea. Since 1991 he has been employed at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: 1991-1993 in Windhoek/Namibia as economic advisor; 1993-1996 in Gaborone/Botswana as Project Manager for various projects on economic development, 1996-2000 in Erfurt/Germany as Director of the FES office Thuringia, 2000-2001 in FES headquarters Bonn, in charge of projects in New York, Geneva, Mexico, Jamaica and Ecuador; 2001-2004 Director of the FES office in Dakar/Senegal; since 2004 Director of the FES office in Zagreb, in charge of projects in Croatia and Slovenia. Matevž Hribernik Matevž Hribernik(1973) is a Senior Adviser at the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development. He is a secretary of the governmental Lisbon Strategy working group in Slovenia. His current professional focus includes coordination and monitoring of the Lisbon reform programme and the 185