Having an understanding of security processes and phenomena that happen in its surroundings is essential for every country.

By gaining full EU membership in 2013, along with several-years of NATO membership, Croatia has attained its most important foreign policy goals and secured a position on the Euro-Atlantic political scene, thus acquiring a wider framework of security-related activities and advancing a level of its own national security in the long term. Belonging to the Euro-Atlantic political framework brings many political, economic and security benefits, but also challenges in the form of participating in the political and security activities of EU and NATO.

The process of Euro-Atlantic integration has expanded the area of security and stability in Europe. However, as Croatia's neighboring countries in SE Europe remain outside of Euro-Atlantic integration, some security challenges still persist.

Aside from the unresolved political issues in countries of the region, widespread corruption, the presence of organized crime, lack of economic prospects, spread of poverty and huge youth unemployment rate, the stability of the region is threatened also by other security trends such as the rise of various types of extremism.

SOA is tasked to timely identify and recognize events and phenomena in SE Europe that might have an impact on Croatia's national security. We carefully monitor and analyze significant political and security processes in SE Europe that might affect the stability of political and security circumstances, and in particular the following:

• processes and occurrences that might disrupt Croatia's interests and security,

• processes in neighboring countries that might destabilize the region,

• unilateral and multilateral regional activities and initiatives that are relevant to Croatia's national interests,

• activities of extremist and radical groups that might pose a significant threat to the security situation in the region,

• activities that might affect the security of Croatian citizens or the position of Croats in countries where they are a minority or a constituent nation.