Croatia

However, over the past decade, Croatian democracy has undergone stagnation and even subtle decline; Media Integrity, Freedom of Expression and Personal Integrity & Security have each declined. This period has seen a suite of damaging corruption scandals involving political elites. Public procurement has been particularly hard-hit, affecting large energy infrastructure contracts and including charges of defrauding EU funds. Most prolifically, the 2020 conviction of former Prime Minister Sanader in a money laundering scheme, and separate high-profile scandals involving food giant Agrokor and the INA-MOL oil company, have raised concerns of growing state capture. These developments have coincided with weak accountability mechanisms and politicization of institutions. Civil society actors have expressed concern over court judgments between 2019-2021 curtailing powers of the Conflicts of Interest Committee, a body born of the EU accession process. Perceived independence of the justice system remains low. Critically, media independence has been diminished by a combination of government pressure on public broadcasters, attacks on the press, and use of lawsuits to silence journalists.

Croatian politics and society have been characterized by ideological divisions since independence, including over historical interpretation of Croatia’s World War II legacy, during which the Ustasa regime brutally persecuted Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croats. Furthermore, several public figures have rejected Croatia’s position as an aggressor in the Bosnian war. Croatia is an ethnically and religiously diverse country, and Serbs continue to be Croatia’s largest ethnic minority, though their numbers were reduced in the aftermath of the war of independence. Discrimination against minority groups, including Serbs and Roma, persists in the form of hate crimes and hate speech in political discourse. The problem is particularly acute in post-conflict areas, undermining progress towards reconciliation. The Catholic Church, Croatia’s most sizeable religious community, plays a significant role in society, enjoying close relations with the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. Recent years have seen a wave of doctors refusing to perform abortions, linked to religious pressure. Migration has introduced another important societal cleavage in Croatia, and there have been cases of mistreatment and pushbacks of migrants in regions bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, an important migratory route into Europe.

The 2020 parliamentary election saw relations with national minorities improve and kept the influence of  the far-right out of the HDZ-led government. However, at least three areas require attention to shake off democratic stagnation. First, high-level corruption needs to be watched, in particular to spur progress in implementing the recommendations of the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, GRECO. This includes reviewing the toolbox of sanctions for violations of conflict-of-interest legislation to ensure appropriate consequences. Second, Media Integrity and Freedom of Expression, and especially media independence, merit close attention, particularly in view of the important role of journalistic investigations in uncovering corruption scandals. Finally, particular attention to  safeguarding migrant rights is required as Croatia pursues further EU integration.