Political system of Croatia

State building

Head of state

The head of state of Croatia is the President of the Republic of Croatia (Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske). He is elected directly by the people every five years. He formally appoints or confirms the government after the parliamentary elections and can call new parliamentary elections.

executive

The executive branch in Croatia is the government (Vlada Republike Hrvatske).

legislative branch

According to the 1990 constitution, the Croatian Parliament (Croatian Sabor ) has a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 160 members. Since December 4, 2011 the Sabor has 151 members. The constitution of 1990 was based on the German two-chamber system. The second chamber was the representation of the regions. The names of the chambers were Zastupnički dom (House of Representatives) and Županijski dom (County Council). Since the constitutional amendment in 2001 there has only been a one-chamber system. However, unlike the President (5 years), MPs are directly elected every four years. The law stipulates that of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives, three are for Croatians abroad and eight for minorities (three of which are for the Serbian minority ). All citizens over the age of 18 are entitled to vote.

Judiciary

The Supreme Court of Croatia ( Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske ) is, similar to Germany, the highest judicial authority. Judges are appointed by the State Judicial Council on the recommendation of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. There is also a constitutional court and several criminal and civil courts as well as courts of appeal . The Croatian judiciary is currently in a fundamental reform process.

politics

Political system

Croatia is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system . The constitution of December 1990 provided for a semi-presidential system of government, which, however, was replaced by a parliamentary system in the November 2000 constitutional amendment. Majority suffrage applies to parliamentary elections in Croatia . However, it is up to the parties to decide whether to send MEPs to parliament. In view of the very large number of parties, coalitions are sometimes concluded before the election. Croatia is divided into 10 constituencies. As soon as a party reaches more than 5 percent in an electoral district, it sends representatives to parliament for that district. This regulation also gives local parties access to parliament, but at the same time increases the number of parties and makes coalitions more difficult.

In January 2006 amendments were presented which provided for direct election of candidates for parliament in the individual constituencies. This should strengthen the Sabor and give the population direct influence over parliament. MPs are therefore more responsible to the interests of the population in their constituency than to party interests. There were also signs of a change in the electoral process at the local level. Direct election of mayors was to be introduced as early as 2006.

Croatian Parliament

The Croatian parliament, the Sabor, has its seat in Zagreb . It is the central constitutional body in the Croatian political system . The name Sabor does not mean, as it is often erroneously claimed and literally translated, "assembly", which means parliament (or state parliament in times of monarchy). In Croatian, “assembly” means “skupština” in the sense of a representative body or parliament. This is why Sabor is capitalized, as opposed to nouns, which are lowercase in the Croatian language. The term of office in Sabor, a unicameral system since 2001 , lasts four years.

Political parties

The Croatian party landscape is very diverse. In addition to the parties represented in parliament, there are around 100 others.

From December 2003 and again from January 2008, a coalition government under Prime Minister Ivo Sanader ruled Croatia . After his surprising resignation on July 4, 2009, Jadranka Kosor ( HDZ ) replaced him . The major parties in Croatia are the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) . Also of importance are the conservative farmers' party (HSS) , which is strong in rural areas and especially in northern Croatia and Slavonia , the left-wing liberal people 's party (HNS) , which is influential in Zagreb and especially in the Varaždin County , the bourgeois- Liberal Social Liberal Party (HSLS) as well as the National Party of Law (HSP) . Important regional parties are the left-liberal Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) , which holds the majority in Istria , and the Slavonian Regional Party (HDSSB), which governs Osijek-Baranja County . The most important party of the Serbian minority is the Serbian Democratic Independent Party (SDSS), which was a coalition partner of the Sanader government and provided a deputy prime minister.

The following regular parliamentary elections took place on November 25, 2007. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was able to record strong gains, but still remained only the second strongest party. The formation of a government initially dragged on until the HDZ was able to agree on a coalition with the HSS and HSLS.

Current political situation

Distribution of seats in Sabor, Croatia, after the 2003 elections

The President of Croatia has been Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović since February 15, 2015 .

After the parliamentary elections in 2003, the HDZ was the strongest party in the Chamber of Deputies until November 2007; however, it did not have an absolute majority. President of the parliament was Luka Bebić . From December 2003 a minority government of the HDZ was in office, chaired by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader , which was supported by the pensioners' party HSU and other small parties as well as by most representatives of the national minorities. The government at that time consisted of 14 HDZ ministers .

Much discussed topics were the aspired to EU and NATO accession, privatizations and foreign debt. But coming to terms with the past was still a topical issue; For example, there was heated controversy over the extradition of the Croatian defendant Ante Gotovina to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague . From December 2005 to November 2012 he was in custody in The Hague; on November 16, 2012, he was acquitted of all charges and released.

The number of seats in the diaspora was reduced by two seats in 2003 compared to previous elections due to a lower turnout abroad. Because of the distribution of the seats according to the D'Hondt method , the independent lists of the diaspora were not assigned any mandates, although more than 5% of the total votes were achieved.

After the parliamentary elections in autumn 2007, the opposition SDP had gained votes. Forming a government initially seemed difficult. The HDZ needed several coalition partners for a government majority and could no longer rely on a minority government. Finally, the previous opposition parties, the Croatian Peasant Party and the liberal Croatian Social-Liberal Party , agreed on a coalition with the HDZ. This changed with the parliamentary elections in 2011. Four parties were involved in the government coalition under Prime Minister Zoran Milanović (SDP), which was in office from December 2011.

Foreign policy

EU candidate countries

Croatia's aspiration to join the European Union (EU) and NATO has often been referred to as "Euro-Atlantic integration". In 2001 Croatia signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, which came into force in 2005. From January 1, 2006, Croatia acquired the status of an official candidate for membership of the European Union .

Croatia has been a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since 1992, and a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2000 . At the beginning of 2003 Croatia joined CEFTA .

Croatia rejects the establishment of a Balkan economic area, which was presented by the European Commission at the end of January 2006 and refers to the already existing CEFTA. Officials in Croatia state that in reality the EU has no concept for the economic development and stability of the Southeastern European area, but that this is a top priority for Croatia. Croatia operates an active neighborhood policy in the region and offers know-how in Southeast European issues.

On the question of the new International Criminal Court (ICC), Zagreb followed the recommendations of the European Union. Unlike some other Central European countries, Croatia does not grant US citizens immunity from persecution by the ICC.

The EU's accession negotiations with Croatia began on October 4, 2005. Before that, the main prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte , had stated that the Croatian government had “full” cooperation with the tribunal, something that the EU did was required as a condition for the start of negotiations. Croatia owes the start of the accession negotiations to the negotiating strategy of the Austrian federal government , which saw it as unfair to start accession negotiations with Turkey and to deny Croatia the same. After the talks had been suspended in the meantime, the negotiations were formally resumed on October 2, 2009 and concluded on December 9, 2011 with the signing of the membership agreement. After the necessary ratification by Croatia, the European Parliament and the parliaments of the EU states, the country joined the EU on July 1, 2013.

Croatia has been a member of the EU since July 1, 2013

The election as a non-permanent representative in the United Nations Security Council for the years 2008 and 2009 was a great success for Croatian foreign policy . The UN General Assembly thus attached greater importance to the state in international affairs.

Defense and Security Policy

General information about the armed forces

Flag of NATO

The Croatian Army has around 15,000 soldiers in its peacekeeping strength. The number of reservists is 111,000 soldiers, of which about 32,360 are on standby. A total of 856,946 Croatian citizens are ready for a case of defense. The number of conscripts at the age of 19 is around 30,096 per year (2003). Since 2006, the shortened basic military service of 6 months or alternatively the civil service of 8 months has been in force in Croatia . The defense budget of the Republic of Croatia was reduced from about 1.1 billion USD (1997), about 5% of the gross national product, to a current defense budget of 520 million USD. This corresponds to about 2.39% of the GNP.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Croatia is the President of the Republic of Croatia. The Sabor, the Croatian parliament, has control of the armed forces, the defense budget and strategic development.

NATO aspirations and modernization

According to the latest statements by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer , who praised Croatia's efforts, Croatia could receive an invitation to join the defense alliance by the end of 2006. A binding statement is to be made at the summit in Riga on November 28 and 29, 2006. In particular, the volatility of the alleged war criminal Ante Gotovina has long been an obstacle on Croatia's path to membership. NATO does not see itself exclusively as a military alliance, but predominantly as a value system in which the principles of the rule of law, minority rights , democracy and the market economy are adhered to.

By joining NATO, Croatia is planning a fundamental change in the country's defense strategy. So the current individual defense strategy is being switched to a collective defense strategy. A working paper on the sustainable development of the armed forces is to be presented in February 2006 and will be implemented over the next 10 years. The strategy also includes defense through non-military measures, civil protection and innovations in search and rescue teams. The gradual modernization from a technical point of view is also planned. a. the acquisition of new tanks and possibly also the modernization of the Croatian interceptors .

Assignments abroad

Croatian troops have been part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan ( ISAF ) since November 2003 , under the direction of NATO (formation of a regional development team for trade in the city of Kunduz and demilitarization programs). In the course of 2006 the contingent is to be increased from 50 soldiers to 150. For years, Croatia has received excellent assessments from experts and officials of the alliance for its commitment to ISAF.

The Croatian Armed Forces are also used for peacekeeping and peacekeeping measures within the framework of the United Nations :

literature

Tomslav Maršić, Nenad Zakošek: The political system of Croatia. In: Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.): The political systems of Eastern Europe. 3rd edition, VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-17181-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ The press. Croatia: A Serb as Minister for Displaced Persons (Article of January 13, 2008, accessed March 15, 2008)
↑ The press. Coalition agreement concluded in Croatia (Article of January 8, 2008, accessed on March 15, 2008)
↑ net.hr Sanader sastavlja Vladu (Croatian)

[1] The press. Croatia: A Serb as Minister for Displaced Persons (Article of January 13, 2008, accessed March 15, 2008)

[2] The press. Coalition agreement concluded in Croatia (Article of January 8, 2008, accessed on March 15, 2008)

[3] t.hr Sanader sastavlja Vladu (Croatian)