The judiciary is the fundamental pillar of every state, because without an effective judiciary there is no effective state, so the fact that the situation in the Croatian judiciary has been extremely bad for the last 30 years is extremely worrying.
Author: Ivana Vranješ
At the meeting entitled “The Situation in the Croatian Judiciary: Report on the Rule of Law–How to Proceed?” The “Miko Tripalo” Center presented the results of a survey of public opinion on the judicial system conducted by Ipsos on the order of the “Miko Tripalo” Center. The survey was conducted on 1,000 respondents and showed that citizens generally do not trust state institutions. Citizens have the greatest distrust in political parties, the Croatian Parliament, and the judiciary.
Citizens trust the government, the state attorney’s office, and the police more than the judiciary. 1.2% of respondents have complete confidence in the judiciary, and 6.3% of them have some confidence: “Even 40% of respondents do not agree that judges in Croatia always make impartial decisions, while only 23% agree,” said Neven Mates from Center “Miko Tripalo”.
Over two-thirds of citizens believe that judges are too connected to local and national political and economic elites. Over 70% of citizens believe that politicians influence the decisions of judges. Only 17% of citizens believe that judges strictly adhere to ethical and moral standards and conscientiously perform their duties. Over 70% of citizens believe that judges are prone to corrupt behavior. Only 12% of citizens believe that disciplinary procedures against judges are effective.
“People with higher education are more critical in this research. Citizens think that the courts are closed to the public, they are critical of the way judges are elected. As many as 37% of citizens believe that judges are not chosen according to objective criteria, but based on connections and acquaintances, while 15% of citizens believe that they are chosen partly according to objective criteria. Over 50% of citizens express distrust in the method of electing judges,” said Mates.
According to him, the level of distrust in the judiciary is worrying, and this shows that Croatia is far from realizing the rule of law system.
“You cannot have the rule of law if citizens do not believe in the judiciary. The problem should be taken seriously. The necessary measures will take several years. Persistent work is necessary to improve the situation. We expect decisive measures from the Government, the judiciary, the European Commission, and civil society organizations,” said Mates. He emphasized that the “Miko Tripalo” Center has warned about the need to strengthen transparency and accountability in the judiciary for the past few years and has proposed numerous measures with this goal in mind.
After the presentation of the results, at the round table in the second part, distinguished experts referred to the findings and recommendations of the latest Report on the rule of law of the European Commission and the opportunities for improving and strengthening the rule of law in the Republic of Croatia. According to the Report of the European Commission, certain positive steps have been taken in the Croatian judiciary: “After complex negotiations, significant progress has been achieved regarding the salaries of judges, state attorneys, and court officials and employees. In the Report, it is emphasized that the European Commission expects that acts will be adopted in which objective criteria related to salaries will be legally determined,” said Jože Štrus from the Directorate General for Justice of the European Commission.
Further work on preserving the integrity of judges and state attorneys was praised, and the Report stated what had been done recently in this regard. According to the Report, positive developments have been made in the judiciary’s communication with the public: “Communication between courts and users is increasingly electronic, but there is still room for progress and we know that the work on the digitalization of the judicial system continues,” Štrus pointed out. The report also dealt with the election of the new attorney general in Croatia, and the report listed the low public perception of the independence of the Croatian judiciary, the long duration of court proceedings and the large number of pending court cases as serious problems.
A discussion was held on the topic of the Report on the Rule of Law. The professor from the Faculty of Law, Zlata Đurđević, expressed her dissatisfaction with the Report: “The reports that have appeared in recent years are very mild, compromising. They point to maintaining the stability of the Government. A needle in a haystack is found to praise a certain progress that is formal. In this sense, the real problems concerning the rule of law and human rights in the Republic of Croatia are being ignored,” said Đurđević.
Ivan Novosel from the House of Human Rights pointed out the lack of a clear analysis of the situation in the Report on the Rule of Law and pointed out that the focus should also be on human rights: “Especially in the part that concerns the quality of the judiciary, there is a lack of analysis and focus on human rights. It makes no sense to talk about the effects of the negative selection of judges, officials in the judicial system, on technical matters if we do not see the effect they have on human rights,” said Novosel.
He stressed that it is necessary to make a larger analysis related to the problem of free legal aid, which is crucial for the issue of citizens’ perception of the judiciary, and for the realization of several human rights, i.e. their protection: “One of the main problems that civil society organizations face is that the state does not respect its provisions on when it will announce a tender, when it will allocate funds to civil society organizations for providing free legal aid. If that’s not a rule of law issue in the classic sense, then I don’t know what is. That is not in the Report,” Novosel stated.
Neven Mates from the Miko Tripalo Center, Tena Šimonović Einwalter, Ombudsman and Alan Uzelac, professor from the Faculty of Law participated in the discussion on the Report on the Rule of Law.
Cover photo: “Miko Tripalo” Center
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