Croatia is a country located in southeast Europe and is bordered with Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and a small part of Montenegro. Croatia also has a coast along the Adriatic Sea facing Italy, and the country has a number of small islands along its coast as well. The country’s capital city, Zagreb, is located near to the border with Slovenia. I originally first heard of the country via people talking about its football team, particularly during the Euros and World Cup (although I am not into football myself).
The Croats first came to the area in the 6th Century, forming the Duchy of Croatia of which eventually became a Kingdom with the first king being Tomislav. This lasted for about two centuries when there was a succession crisis leading to entering a union with Hungary in 1102. Fast-forward to near the end of WW1 and the territory broke away from Austro-Hungary, leading to the creation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which soon merged with the Kingdom of Serbia, the area was renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929.
When the Nazis invaded and occupied Yugoslavia during WW2 they made Croatia in an “independent” puppet state. Resistance against the Nazis led to the forming of the Federal state of Croatia which became a founding member of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after WW2. In June 1991 Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia and fought a successful four year long civil war against the Serb-backed Yugoslav Army to maintain independence and territorial sovereignty.
The country’s official language is Croatian and the largest religion is Roman Catholic. The country’s currency is the Kuna, used since 1994. The country’s population is estimated to reach 4,227,746 by July 2020.
Government Type
Croatia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic with a President who is Head of State and a Prime Minister who is Head of Government. There is also a unicameral parliament which makes up the legislative government. Multiple parties are allowed.
Political parties that are against free democracy or that endanger Croatia are unconstitutional and so not allowed.
Executive Government
As said, there is a President who is Head of State, representing the country abroad in its diplomatic and foreign affairs. The Presidency has a number of executive powers at its disposal.
The person who is elected President must resign from any political party they are a part of and stand independently.
presidential absence
The President of the Croatian Parliament can temporarily substitute for the President due to some kind of absence or illness, if this goes for a long period of time due to severe illness etc then the Constitutional Court will make the decision to put forth the President of the Croatian Parliamrnt as temporary President. If the President dies in office or resigns and this is confirmed by the Constitutional Court then again, the President of the Croatian Parliament is temporary President of the Nation.
Any acts issued by a temporary President on promulgation of law must be counter-signed by the Prime Minister.
If the absence of President is permanent then fresh elections will be called within 60 days.
Democratic duties
The President calls elections for the Croatian Parliament and convenes its first session. The President can call a referendum as long as it conforms with the constitution. The President appoints the Prime Minister after parliamentary elections, the person who is seen to have the confidence of the majority of members.
The Government can dissolve the Croatian Parliament for early elections at the proposal of the Government, counter-signature of Prime Minister and after consultations with the representatives of the clubs of parliamentary parties. This can happen if there has been a successful vote of no-confidence in the Government or if the state budget has not been passed within 120 days. The President is unable to dissolve parliament early if there are ongoing impeachment proceedings against him.
pardon
The President can grant pardons from the law. The President can confer decorations and other awards specified by law.
foreign affair duties
The President decides on the establishment of diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad, with proposal from the Government and counter-signature from the Prime Minister. With the counter-signature of the Prime Minister, the President also appoints and recalls diplomatic representatives, after proposal from the Government and after hearing the opinion of the authorized committee of the Croatian parliament.
President and Government
The President can propose to the Government to hold a session to consider certain issues and the President may be present at the meeting of the Government and take part in deliberations.
The President and Government cooperate together in directing the operations of the security services. Appointments of heads of security have prior opinion from the authorized committee in Croatian Parliament and is then counter-signed by the President and Prime Minister.
commander-in-chief
The President is the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces. The President appoints and relieves of duty military commanders, via conformity of the law. With decision of the Croatian parliament, the President can declare war and make peace.
If there is an immediate threat to independence, unity and existence of the state, then the President can order the employment of the armed forces before a state of war is declared, although needs a counter-signature from the Prime Minister to do this.
Armed forces of allied nations may cross the national border and enter Croatia or operate within the national borders as stipulated in a ratified international treaty, with consent from the Government and the President. Croatia may also give assistance to allied nations in case of armed aggression under ratified international treaties, decided by the parliament, Government with consent from the President.
If the President does not give consent to the above, he can be overruled by a vote of two-thirds of parliamentary members.
Military exercises and humanitarian assistance are also decided as stipulated by international treaties and with a decision via Government and consent from the President.
emergency provisions
Provisions in the constitution allow the restriction of freedoms and rights under emergency and extraordinary situations, such as due to war or territorial sovereignty or the nation’s independence being threatened, severe natural disasters etc. Any move to being in such emergency provisions requires consent of at least two-thirds of parliament, but if the parliament is unable to meet due to whatever the problem is, then the decision is proposed by the Government to the President, which is counter-signed by the Prime Minister. Certain provisions cannot be restricted as stated in the constitution, such as right to life, prohibition of torture, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment and so on.
Emergency provisions and time of war allow the President to issue decrees with the power of law, with the authority obtained from the Croatian Parliament. Decrees are consented to by parliament.
Head of State Removal
The President can be impeached for breaking the country’s constitution. Impeachment proceedings are instituted against the President a by a two-third majority vote of the Croatian Parliament. The Constitutional Court will then decide via a two-third vote of its judges on the President’s impeachment. If impeachment is sustained by the Constitutional Court then the President is removed from office by force of the constitution.
The Government
The other part of the Executive is the Government itself which is headed by the Prime Minister as Head of Government. The Prime Minister proposes ministers and other members of Government who are appointed by the President, there can also be Deputy Prime Ministers.
formation
Within 30 days of the formation of Government it and its program will be presented to parliament by the mandatary (person appointed to lead as Prime Minister) and demand a vote of confidence on it. If successful then the Government assumes it duty. After confidence is expressed the ruling on the appointment of Prime Minister will be brought by the President of the Republic with counter-signature from the President of the Croatian Parliament and the ruling on the appointments of ministers and government members will then be brought by the Prime Minister with counter-signature again from the President of the Croatian Parliament.
If the mandatary fails to form a Government within 30 days the President of the Republic can choose to give up to 30 additional days, if the mandatary still fails to form a Government within that additional time or if a proposed Government loses a vote of confidence in parliament then the President of the Republic will choose a new mandatary.
If it still fails then the President of the Republic can appoint a temporary non-party Government and call fresh elections.
Main Governmental duties
It is the Governments job to propose legislation and other acts to the Croatian Parliament; propose state budget and annual accounts; execute laws and other decisions by the Croatian Parliament; enact decrees to implement laws; guide foreign and internal policies; direct and control operations of state administration; take care of economic development of country; direct performance and development of public services among more.
parliamentary confidence
The Government is ultimately responsible to the Croatian Parliament and the Prime Minister, ministers and members of Government are jointly-responsible for Governmental decisions.
A vote of confidence in the Government, the Prime Minister or an individual minister or member of Government can be brought forth by at least one-fifth of the members of parliament. It is decided by vote of an absolute majority of members, if the motion is not passed it cannot be reintroduced for six months against the same person or entity. If a motion of no confidence passes against the Government or Prime Minister then the Prime Minister and Government resign and if a newly appointed mandatary cannot form a government then the President of the Republic may call fresh elections.
Legislative Government
The Croatian Parliament (or Sabor) is a unicameral chamber that makes up legislative government and is where legislation is introduced, debated, amended and either passed or rejected. It also gives consent to the state budget and gives confidence or non-confidence to the Prime Minister, other ministers and members of Government and to the Government as a whole and can also institute impeachment proceedings against the President of the Republic. Various committees for different functions exist. The parliament gives consent to alteration of Croatia’s territory, also decides on declaring war or making peace, giving the President of the Republic consent to do so. Parliament can grant amnesty for criminal offenses.
The President of the Republic must promulgate laws passed by parliament within eight days unless the President believes the law does not abide by the country’s constitution he can then instead refer it to the Constitutional Court for review, if they deem it to be abiding with the constitution then the President must promulgate it.
An extraordinary session of parliament can be called by the President of the Republic or by the Government or by the vote of a majority of parliamentary members.
The constitution states that the parliament has no less than 100 members but no more than 160 members elected to it. It currently has 151 elected members.
The President of the Croatian Parliament is elected in the first session after parliamentary elections by a majority vote and members will decides on Standing Rules which regulates the running of parliament.
The parliament can form commissions of inquiry regarding any issue of public interest. The parliament can vote to have referendums on certain issues deemed of national importance, at least 10% of voters can also convoke parliament to call a referendum on certain issues stated by the constitution.
Judicial Branch
The Supreme Court is the highest court of law in Croatia and its President is proposed by the President of the Republic (after opinion from the general session of Supreme Court and of the authorized committee of the Croatian Parliament) and the Croatian Parliament will vote its consent, the Croatian Parliament can also vote to relieve the President of the Supreme Court at the proposal of the President of the Republic. The President of the Supreme Court serves for a 4-year term.
The National Judicial Council exists to make sure the Judicial Branch remains autonomous and independent, it consists of 11 members serving 4-year terms (manner of election decided by law) seven members are judges, two are university professors of law and two members of parliament, one of which will be from the opposition, the council members elect among themselves the chairperson. The council appoints, promotes, transfers, dismisses, and performs disciplinary accountability of judges and presiding judges, excluding the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court consists of thirteen judges who are elected by a two-thirds majority of the Croatian Parliament for 8-year terms, from among notable jurists, including judges, public prosecutors, attorneys and university law professors. The judges for election of the Constitutional Court are proposed by the committee of the Croatian parliament authorized for constitutional issues. The judges of the constitutional court elect a President from among themselves for a 4-year term.
Electoral System
Parliamentary elections are held every 4-years to elect the 151 members of Croatia’s parliament, 140 members are elected from multi-seat constituencies using a proportional representation system via the D’Hondt method, where all parties who get at least 5% threshold are guaranteed seats in parliament. Three further members are elected by Croatians living abroad and finally eight further members are elected by recognized minorities from a single nation-wide constituency, 3 by the Serb minority, 1 by the Hungarian minority, 1 by the Italian minority, 1 elected jointly by the Czech and Slovak minorities and finally 2 elected jointly by all other recognized minorities.
After parliamentary elections a mandatary is appointed by the President of the Republic who is deemed to have the most confidence among members of the parliament, they will form Government and become Prime Minister if successful.
Presidential elections happen every 5-years and uses a two-round system where a candidate requires an absolute majority to win in the first round otherwise a second round is held between the top two candidates which is won by simple majority. One person cannot serve as President for more than two terms either consecutively or not.
To vote in elections one must be a citizen of Croatia and be at least 18-years-old. Voting is not mandatory.
Sources
The source for this post is from the 1991 Croatian constitution with amendments through to 2013 from constituteproject.org and so it should be as accurate as possible but of course there is always a chance I misinterpreted some parts and of course the constitution can be changed so this post may eventually become outdated, so cross-research is encouraged is using this in a serious capacity. Some information such as on population and election of the unicameral parliament from the Croatia entry on the CIA World Factbook.
The country’s constitution can be amended via a proposal brought forth by at least one-fifth of the members of the Croatian Parliament. The President of the Republic or the Government can also bring forth proposed amendments. It is voted by an absolute majority of the members of parliament to start proceedings for constitutional amendment, it is then voted by an absolute majority to determine draft amendments and finally the amendment is adopted by a two-third majority vote in parliament and is then promulgated by the parliament.
Next up will be the government system of Cuba.
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