58 PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS | VOL 44 | 2026 migration as part of legal migrations was one pillar, and integration was another. Some of the key government objectives included encouraging the immigration of foreign workers and fostering collaboration of those involved in integration policy design and implementation Additionally, pillars are incorporated regarding international protection, illegal migrations, and security (Republic of Slovenia, 2019). Slovenia balanced aspects of migration present in Croatia’s strategy with employment-based migration. It also created a strategic plan for immigration in 2024. One of its goals was promoting immigration for employment, specifically for reducing structural imbalances in the labor market and doing so in a socially conscious way and in a global context (Republic of Slovenia, 2024). Croatia has already made improvements or has received recommendations for improvements regarding many of the subgoals (World Bank Group, 2025). Slovenia offers a model for how Croatia can create a cohesive plan, with the potential to correct fragmented policies resulting from an absence of a migration policy (World Bank Group, 2025). Another example of a migration and integration framework was Portugal’s National Plan for the Implementation of the Global Compact on Migration, approved in 2019. The plan had five key topics: 1) safe, orderly, and regular migration; 2) improved migration flow and border management; 3) promoting reception and integration measures; 4) supporting connections to countries of origin and plans to return; and 5) expanding development partnerships with countries of origin and addressing root causes of migration. The plan included 97 specific measures and incorporated all levels of public administration and civil society (European Commission, 2026; United Nations Network on Migration, n.d.). Although the scope of this plan may not yet be realistic for Croatia, it provides valuable lessons for its own planning, especially regarding Portugal’s comprehensive approach. Building on this multilevel approach, a final example comes from within Croatia. The INTEGRA project analyzes the long-term integration of TCNs in five EU member states, through understanding potential barriers of integration and identifying possible solutions. Osijek in Croatia was one of the focus cities of the project. The four areas of integration chosen were education, health care and social care; employment and housing; local capacities; and raising citizens’ awareness, with the goal of better social cohesion an inclusion (Čabarkapa et al., 2021). This project, along with another integration initiative in Zagreb, was designed with a focus on people with international protection, also serving as an example for other local policies (World Bank Group, 2025). This aligns with the recommendation that national-level authorities can learn from these initiatives, such as the two listed, through local experimentation and provide support and inclusion in national policies (World Bank Group, 2025). The Northern region and City of Zagreb, which did not experience as large of a migration shift, may not require the same local considerations as the Pannonian region, which saw net negative migration, or the Adriatic region, which had a larger influx of immigrants. Taken together, these approaches provide examples of how to further develop migration plans and subsequent strategies, as Slovenia did, and adopt a multilevel and comprehensive approach like Portugal. Croatia has already taken steps in the creation of migration policies and local-level considerations. However, having a national direction that allows for local flexibility would solidify the country’s migration and integration goals. Conclusion After more than a decade of demographic shift, Croatia has identified the need for a lasting strategy to address its effects. Migration trends are central to the country’s population challenges and prompted recent policy responses to incentivize return migration to utilize immigration to meet short-term labor market demand. Yet these responses remain largely reactive, without a national strategy defining the role migration will play in Croatia's future. Stronger reverse migration programs along with continued economic growth should sustain the upward trend in return migration. But immigration policies must go further, addressing demographic decline, not solely immediate job vacancies. In starting to develop and implement these initiatives, Croatia can look to other countries’ approaches to ensure that immigrants can work in the country and also provide pathways and support to make Croatia an attractive long-term destination. Those initiatives serve as examples for national migration and integration policies, whereas internal initiatives can be scaled and inclusive of all TCNs. Croatia can go beyond individual initiatives and policy adjustments and frame migration in a way that is inclusive of all migrants; thus, migration trends would be addressed as not just a part of a solution to structural labor market issues and demographic shifts but also an opportunity to make Croatia a destination for lasting stay.
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