ZAGREB (Croatia), July 21 (SeeNews) – The European Commission said that Croatia has to improve further the efficiency and quality of its law system, its public procurement procedures are still a high-risk area for corruption, while the high number of lawsuits against journalists remains a concern.
“The Croatian justice system has seen improvements in reducing length of proceedings and backlogs, but further improvements are still needed to address serious efficiency and quality challenges,” the European Commission said in its 2021 Rule of Law report released on Tuesday.
The report focuses on the country's justice system, anti-corruption framework, media freedom and institutional issues related to checks and balances.
The EC considers that an ongoing protracted process for appointing the new Supreme Court President has given rise to controversy and to repeated disparaging public statements against judges.
A series of alleged ethical breaches and disciplinary violations by judges led to proceedings before the state judicial council and judges’ councils, as well as to a criminal investigation.
“The level of perceived judicial independence remains very low,” the Commission said. It also pointed to shortages in human resources of the state judicial council and the state attorney’s councils.
The report points out that the perception among experts and business executives is that the level of corruption in the public sector remains high. In the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Croatia scores 47/100 and ranks 18th in the European Union and 63th globally and this perception has deteriorated over the past five years.
A new strategy on the prevention of corruption for 2021-2030 is in the public consultation process. According to the Commission's report, codes of ethics for government and parliament members are still missing, while “revolving doors” are only partially regulated. Detailed rules on lobbying activities remain to be introduced. While changes to the framework of political immunity of the members of government were announced, the legislative action has yet to follow, the Commission said.
“Public procurement procedures remain a high-risk area for corruption, and several cases have been discovered due to reporting by whistleblowers,” the report said. The prosecution and investigation of high-level corruption continues, but due to protracted proceedings convictions are often delayed.
Although a legal framework for the protection of journalists is in place, journalists continue to face threats. In particular, the high number of strategic lawsuits against public participation targeting journalists continues to be a serious concern, the report said. Regional and local media outlets are often considered heavily dependent on the advertising from local authorities, creating potential to undermine editorial independence.
As regards checks and balances, while public consultations are embedded in legislative procedures, stakeholders perceive citizen participation to be rather formalistic than substantive, the Commission noted.