Freedom House, the US non-governmental organisation, has given Croatia the same scores as last year in its “Nations in Transit 2013” report on democratic development in 29 Central European and Eurasian countries. Croatia’s average democracy score is 3.61, indicating a stagnation in democratic development. Nonetheless, it remains the best ranked country in the Balkans, followed…
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Government should report to parliament more often
Opposition members in the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution and Standing Orders are generally satisfied with the legislation that obliges the prime minister and the government to report more frequently than was originally proposed to the Croatian Sabor and the European Affairs Committee concerning European Union issues, notably on European Council meetings. The Committee on…
Where do social partners and citizens fit in?
This address is related to the current parliamentary debate on the long awaited Draft Law on Cooperation between Croatian Parliament and the Government in European Affairs to which we submitted detailed comments during the public consultations process, held last month by the European Integrations Committee of the Croatian Parliament. However, none of our comments have…
Parliament discusses new Standing Orders
The new Standing Orders that regulate the work of the parliament in European affairs and introduces several novelties in relations between executive and legislative government was presented to lawmakers in Croatia’s Sabor for a first reading. The Standing Orders were proposed by the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System and should…
Opposition says bill minimises parliament’s role
The parliamentary opposition was unanimous on Wednesday in the position that a bill on cooperation between the government and parliament in European affairs minimised parliament’s role in relation to the government and criticised government representatives for not attending today’s discussion on the bill. Zeljko Reiner of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said the executive authority…
Objection to reduction of VAT on newspapers
Some external members of the parliamentary Finance Committee on Monday objected to a proposal to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on some daily newspapers, stating that the reduction of VAT from 10 percent to five ppercent should be applied to all newspapers and not just some, while some members said VAT should remain as it…