Constitutional transformation of the Republic of Croatia during the monitoring procedure of the Council of Europe

The author analyses the constitutional transformation of the Republic of Croatia during the monitoring procedure of the Council of Europe. Croatia once achieving the membership in the Council of Europe took several obligations to change constitutional system according to values and democratic standards represented by the Council of Europe. They have included e.g. protection of national minorities, freedom of media, changing of the system of the local government and the election law. Realization of those obligations was controlled by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Council of Europe, through the Venice Committee, has helped Croatia to fulfill those obligations.

The House of Zupanii as on element of constitutional system  in the Republic of Croatia 

The Polish science of the constitutional law is extensively interested in the problem of the purpose of the exitence of the upper house of the parliament in unitary countries. The issue is especially interesting in Poland, where different political parties, in their programs, propose to abolish the Upper House of the Parliament, the Senate. The functioning of the upper chamber of the parliament in the Republic of Croatia seems to be extraordinarily interesting as far as this issue is concerned. Croatia adopted its first constitution on 22 December 1990. According to its first version the House of Parliament was to have two chambers. It consisted of the House of Representatives and the House of Zupanii (the House of Counties). On 28 March 2001 the constitution was mended, as a result the House of Counties was abolished. The article presents the analysis of the reasons for which the House of the Zupanii was created, its structure, references, the functioning and the reasons why it was abolished. The parliamentary traditions in Croatia date back to 13 th century, but in the past Sabor (the Parliament) was never bicameral. The decision to appoint the House of Zupanii, although an important part of the political system, were made in at least curious circumstances. Franjo Tudjman’s opinion had the biggest influence on the creation of the House of Zupanii, it was made, although main experts from the constitutional commission opposed, as they thought it’s against the Croatian tradition. While designing the references and the position of the House in the system, the commission took for example the solutions used in Italy and Spain. The House of Zupanii was supposed to represent the regional interests, which was stressed by the elective system to this chamber. The item literature pointed out that Croatia is considerably different to the countries from which it took the example. The House of Zupanii had limited references, which were mainly to serve as a deliberative body for the lower house of the parliament. It also had a suspensory veto, for the bills passed by the House of Representatives, which it really didn’t use. The decision to abolish the House of Zupanii was made following certain political interest. Despite that it seems that nine years after the liquidation there is no intention to bring the upper house of the parliament in Croatia back to life. We come to a conclusion that the science of the constitutional law and the Croatian political scientists considered the experiment with the upper house of the parliament as a failed one.

The accession process of Croatia to the European Union – implications for future enlargement of the European Union

This article analyzes the possible implications of Croatia’s accession process for further expansion of the Community (officially aspiring to membership in the European Union aspires five countries – Albania, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey). In order to carry out the present historical relations between the EU – Croatia, the characteristic way of Croatia’s accession process on each of its stages, the state of its accomplishment by the designated official candidates, assessment of their nature of the relationship with the European Union and possible prospects for future membership.

Lex Perković. Croatian problems with the implementation of the European arrest warrant

The European arrest warrant established in 2002 is an important tool in prosecuting perpetrators of crimes committed within the European Union. It can, however, be considered as some interference in state sovereignty. Such a situation took place in 2013 when Croatia joined the EU. Just before the date of accession the parliament changed the law, significantly limiting the possibility of extraditing the citizens of that country to the other EU countries. The unofficial, but actual reason for this decision was the desire to protect the former high-rank representative of the Yugoslavian secret services, Josip Perkovic, accused of participating in the assassination of a Croatian dissident in Germany in 1983. This risky step by the Croatian authorities has led to a serious crisis in relations with the German government and the European Commission, including the threat of EU funds being withheld. He even got a separate treatment in the literature on the subject (lex Perković, Croat slučaj Perković). The main purpose of the article is to present and discuss political events that accompany this case, as well as to analyze legal steps taken by all interested parties.

Rights of national minorities in the election law of the Croatian Sabor

The article is devoted to the election law in force in the Republic of Croatia, in particular to the provisions regulating the procedure for electing representatives of national minorities. In Croatia, the electoral system for the Sabor consists of three separate methods of selecting deputies. The first and fundamental one involves the election of 140 deputies in 10 constituencies. In each of the constituencies, 14 representatives are elected on the basis of a proportional system, using the d’Hondt method and the 5% electoral threshold applied to the constituency scale. The second is used in the election of three representatives of the Croatian diaspora. The constituency is the entire world, and the distribution of seats is also made proportionally using the d’Hondt method. The third, used in the election of 8 representatives of national minorities, is the majority system. The article analyzes the method of electing minority representatives and the consequences of applying this election procedure.