In the times of pandemic we must not forget democracy

Zagreb, 18.03.2020 - Predsjednik Vlade Andrej Plenkovic na sjednici Hrvatskog sabora prezentirao je izmjene 20 zakona kojima država želi pomoci gospodarstvu u situaciji epidemije koronavirusom, a cilj im je zadržavanje radnih mjesta i rješavanje problema nelikvidnosti. Na slici premijer Andrej Plenkovic. foto HINA/ Damir SENCAR/ ds

The Government of the Republic of Croatia, like most states, has adopted extraordinary measures to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Those measures should not be abused. Restrictions imposed must be motivated solely by public health reasons, enforced following the Constitution, and should last only for the duration of the pandemic. Gong considers…

50 Questions from YOU to the EU

Citizen participation is one of the key elements in the establishment and development of modern society representing the interests of all citizens, social groups and society as a whole. In order to find the best practice examples across three EU Member States and two accession countries on modalities of citizen participation in decision-making, as well…

Mind to mind, hand in hand, EU citizens can catalyze change

According to a new democratic right, established in 2015, any EU citizen, together with commonly concerned neighbors, can launch an initiative to be brought before the European Commission. Any EU citizen has a mechanism at their disposal, through which EU policy and legislation could be influenced according to their concerns. The European Citizens’ Initiative is…

Citizenship education still without any improvement

A new intersubject programme of citizenship education does not bring any improvements. Civil society has been replaced by community, nationalism has been inserted in places where it does not even fit the context and with everything we are seeing, the young are still being raised to be subjects, not citizens. The decision on adopting the…

Public fact-checking event: Approachable EU

Croatia will not introduce Euro until at least 2023. Voter turnout for European Parliament elections is low, especially among the youth. The biggest threat for the future of the EU might not be euroscepticism, but “euro-indifference”. Those are answers to some of the questions asked on Gong’s Europe Day event. How much is Croatia contributing…

European populism, democracy and participation

European politics in recent years has been concerned with the rise and popularity of populism, especially among younger generations. Populist political options – it is argued – are gaining unprecedented success and are beginning to pose a systemic threat to the well-being of all European democracies. These are the empirical facts, as much as they…