Honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia

Doc. 9204

18 September 2001

Honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia Recommendation 1473 (2000)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 763^rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (12 September 2001)

1. The Committee of Ministers shares the Parliamentary Assembly’s positive appreciation of the significant progress achieved by Croatia in fulfilling its commitments and obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe since its accession on 6 November 1996, and in particular, since the parliamentary and presidential elections held at the beginning of 2000, as referred to in Recommendation 1473 (2000).

2. At its 726^th meeting on 18 October 2000, the Committee of Ministers took note of Resolution 1223 (2000) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia, to which Recommendation 1473 (2000) refers. On this occasion the Committee of Ministers, in particular, took note of the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly’s monitoring procedure regarding Croatia is closed, while, with respect to issues listed in paragraph 3 of the Resolution, the Assembly will continue its post-monitoring dialogue with the Croatian authorities.

3. As regards specific issues included in Recommendation 1473 (2000), as well as in paragraph 3 of Assembly Resolution 1223 (2000), the Committee of Ministers would like to draw the Parliamentary Assembly’s attention to the following points:

4. Within the framework of its thematic monitoring procedure, the Committee of Ministers is looking into some of the issues referred to in para. 3 of Assembly Resolution 1223 (2000) notably: “freedom of expression and information”, “functioning of the judicial system”, “local democracy”, “effectiveness of judicial remedies” and “non-discrimination, with emphasis on the fight against intolerance and racism”.

5. Co-operation activities developed well with Croatia before the State’s accession to the Council of Europe. However, in recent years, the level of co-operation has been concentrated on a few key areas in line with the progress achieved and the necessity to concentrate financial resources on priority programmes for other regions in Europe. Croatia expressed an interest in strengthening co-operation with the Council of Europe in a period in which its objective is to join the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

6. The Committee of Ministers warmly welcomes the co-operation by Croatia with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in particular the decision to defer some important indicted military staff to the Hague. It further encourages Croatia to pursue this co-operation.

7. Concerning the administration of justice, and more specifically the independence of the judiciary, the Committee of Ministers recalls that constitutional and legislative amendments were adopted by the Croatian Parliament in March 2001, affecting inter alia the procedure for appointing presidents of the courts, including the Supreme Court, as well the members of the High Judicial Council. In this context, an expert meeting on these issues took place in Zagreb on 3-4 May 2001 and an expert report was submitted to the Croat authorities. The issue was further addressed with the Croat authorities during the visit of the Director General of Legal Affairs in Zagreb (20 – 21 June 2001) and further co-operation was offered by the Council of Europe in order to ensure that this ongoing reform complies with the European standards. Furthermore, regarding efficiency of the judiciary, an expert meeting on the execution of judicial decisions in administrative cases took place in Zagreb in May 2001; another one concerning the execution of judicial decisions in civil and commercial cases is foreseen for October 2001. The Committee of Ministers considers that the training of judges, including training on the European standards of human rights, is a particularly important issue.

8. Concerning freedom of the media, the Committee of Ministers recalls that it has paid particular attention to this issue both prior and subsequent to Croatia’s accession to the Council of Europe and welcomes the positive changes that have taken place. In order to help Croatia fulfil its specific commitments in this field, expert assistance has been granted on several occasions, notably regarding amendments to the Law on the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) and the Telecommunications Law which regulates private radio-television:

i. Regarding the HRT Law, progress has been made during the last years towards its full conformity with the principles and standards of the Council of Europe. However, the Committee of Ministers considers that the definitive text of the law, as adopted in February 2001 by the Croatian Parliament, should still be improved, notably as regards appointment and dismissal of the HRT Administrative Board by the Croatian Parliament.

ii. Regarding the Telecommunications Law, amendments are still in the process of being elaborated with a view to ensuring full conformity with the Council of Europe’s principles and standards. Particular attention is paid to this issue given its importance for the development of private electronic media in a legally unambiguous and predictable environment, free from interference by political interests.

9. In the field of local democracy, the Committee of Ministers considers that progress is being achieved regarding legislation intended to give effect to the constitutional reform of 9 November 2000. A Law on Local and Regional Self-Government entered into force on 11 April 2001. The Committee of Ministers reaffirms the Council of Europe’s readiness to provide legislative expertise on this law, as well as other draft laws on local democracy currently pending before Parliament, to ensure their full conformity with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. It notes the intention of the Croatian authorities to submit its draft laws on the local public service, on local elected representatives and on the status of the City of Zagreb, for expertise by the Council of Europe.

10. In this context, the Committee of Ministers recalls that, in the framework of its monitoring procedure on the theme of local democracy, it has invited governments to take account of the comments and recommendations mentioned in the Chairman’s summing-up when deciding on their legislative and political priorities, and to base any request for assistance on these. The Committee of Ministers has also instructed the Secretariat to draw up, in the light of these requests, specific proposals for action to be implemented in 2002 and 2003 in order to help the member states where problems have been identified to resolve the difficulties encountered.

11. As regards the local elections held on 20 May 2001, the international observation mission, composed of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the OSCE/ODIHR, concluded that they were conducted generally in accordance with international standards for democratic elections, although several shortcomings had been noted in the field of national minority participation and representation: “These include stipulations in the new Election Law which provide for by-elections to ensure proportional minority representation, but fail to establish clear procedures on how to implement these provisions. Three other serious concerns, already highlighted during previous elections, remain: voter registers continued to identify the ethnicity of voters; the 1991 Law on Citizenship disadvantaged persons who are not ethnic Croats; and ethnic Croat and Serb displaced persons were afforded unequal voting rights.”

12. As regards the protection of minorities, Croatia undertook on its accession to co-operate with the Council of Europe, in particular with the Venice Commission, to revise the suspended provisions of the 1991 Constitutional Law on Human Rights and Rights of Minorities as soon as possible. Despite several meetings between the Venice Commission and the Croatian Commission on the Revision of the Constitutional Law, the revision sought was not achieved. Moreover, on 11 May 2000, the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia adopted a Constitutional Law which, in the opinion of the Venice Commission, “does not ‘revise’ the suspended provisions but clearly abolishes all special regimes for important minorities in Croatia.” The Venice Commission expressed the view that this situation, despite the efforts undertaken by the Croatian legislator to set out a coherent network of laws guaranteeing minority rights (law on the equal official use of minority languages and law on education in minority languages), did not seem to offer an adequate response to the political needs of minorities in Croatia.

13. However, on the basis of a conclusion adopted by the Parliament, work started within the Government with a view to preparing a new draft of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities. The Venice Commission co-operated with the Croatian Working Group, established under the Chair of the Minister of Justice for this purpose, and three meetings were held until March 2001. As a result, a new draft Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities was prepared. In its Opinion, adopted on 6-7 July 2001, the Venice Commission notes:

“The new draft significantly improves the legal framework of minority protection in Croatia. It clarifies most of the inconsistencies of previous drafts, in particular as regards the effects of the new law and the electoral rights aspects [NB: see also above paragraph 11], and provides for the establishment of a system for minority self-government at local, regional and state level that can be regarded as an adequate response to the needs of minorities in Croatia.

Attention must nevertheless be drawn to certain aspects of the draft Law:

- while welcoming the removal of the list of minorities from the Law, the Commission notes that such a list continues to exist in the Constitution;

- laws implementing this “Constitutional” Law must not be treated as organic laws under Article 83 of the Constitution but as ordinary laws of which the conformity with the Law on the Rights of National Minorities is subject to review by the Constitutional Court;

- some ambiguities with respect to the provisions on minority self-government, in particular as regards their functioning, should be removed while, at the same time, some necessary clarifications as to their competencies should be made.

The Commission notes that more than one year after the abolition of the suspended provisions of the Constitutional Law of 1991 in May 2000, no normative action has been successfully carried out by the Croatian Parliament at supra-legislative level to replace the abolished provisions. The protection of minorities’ rights at the level of the Constitution therefore remains incomplete.

The Commission remains at the disposal of the Croatian authorities for further co-operation in the field of this draft law."

14. The Committee of Ministers expresses the hope that continued intensive co-operation between the Croat authorities and the Venice Commission, in particular appropriate follow-up to the Opinion adopted by the latter on the new draft Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities, will soon result in concluding the work started in 1996 and ensuring that the relevant commitment will be fully honoured.

15. The Committee of Ministers recalls that Croatia signed and ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 5 November 1997. It submitted its initial periodical report on its application of the Charter in 1999. The Committee of Experts of the Charter visited Croatia in 1999 as part of its normal information-gathering procedure, and recently submitted to the Committee of Ministers its report on the application of the Charter in Croatia. This report contains an overview of the legal situation of the regional or minority languages in Croatia and more specifically the extent to which the obligations of Croatia are in practice fulfilled. It also makes proposals for recommendations which the Committee of Ministers might address to the Croatian authorities in order to fulfil the remaining obligations. Since the submission of the Croatian initial report on the application of the Charter two important laws have been adopted in the course of 2000, namely the Law on the Use of Language and Script of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia and the Law on the Education in Language and Script of National Minorities, which provide for detailed regulation of the use of minority languages in the public and private spheres as well as in the education system.

16. The Committee of Ministers considers that the process for the return of refugees and displaced persons requires further progress. In order to create the conditions for sustainable return, it would seem useful that the Croatian authorities should develop a more coherent legislative framework in this field, in order to back up its stated political support of return, particularly of Croatian Serbs. Such a framework, which should be in compliance with international standards, should cover issues such as the repossession of occupied property, and the resolution of lost occupancy and tenancy rights, through for example the return of apartments, allocation of other housing, or appropriate compensation. In order for such legislation to be effective, however, it is important that the authorities take steps to ensure proper implementation of legislation by all levels of administration, on an equal basis for all, and particularly the returning Croatian Serb community. To date, approximately 90,000 of the Croatian Serbs who left the country have been registered as having returned since 1995, and many of these people face difficulties on property-related issues.

17. According to additional information provided by the Croatian authorities, by June 2001, a total of 275,351 persons had returned to their homes, while a significant number of displaced persons in Croatia and Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina were still waiting to return to their places of origin. In this respect, mention could be made of the ongoing discussions with neighbouring countries (FRY and Bosnia and Herzegovina), particularly with a view to enable the returns to Republika Srpska where the results so far have been minimal. The Agenda for Regional Return Action and the Regional Return Initiative for Refugees and Displaced Persons adopted at the Steering Committee for Regional Return Initiative of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe should be fully implemented.

18. In this context, the Committee of Ministers took note of the Assembly’s invitation to step up the financial assistance to Croatia, in order to contribute to reconstruction and sustainable development in the areas of return. The Committee of Ministers highly appreciated the efforts of the Croatian authorities who, according to the recent OSCE Review Report, have financed 96% of the housing reconstruction themselves. The Council of Europe Development Bank could continue to play a significant role in this respect. Prior to August 2000, the Council of Europe Development Bank had already approved four loan requests in favour of Croatia, for a total of € 71m, aimed at the reconstruction of health and education infrastructures, which should assist in creating favourable conditions for the return of refugees and displaced persons. In September 2000, the Bank approved a further € 30.4m loan for a project focussing on the construction of housing units and infrastructure and the provision of alternative accommodation for temporary users, with the aim of achieving a return of pre-war populations to war-affected areas and the rebuilding of multi-ethnic communities in 35 municipalities. At the Joint Meeting of the Development Bank of the Council of Europe, held in Dubrovnik on 19-20 June 2001, talks were held between officials of the Croatian government and the Bank, during which it was agreed that co-operation should be further expanded in the area of refugee returns and other priority social sectors.

19. The Committee of Ministers wishes to bring to the attention of the Parliamentary Assembly that Croatia has participated in several regional initiatives of the Council of Europe, within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, for instance regarding the judicial system and local democracy, the Link Diversity Project, as well as independent national human rights protection institutions, including Ombudsman institutions. It should also be noted that Croatia co-chairs Stability Pact Working Table III on security issues.

20. In conclusion, the Committee of Ministers notes that co-operation between the Croatian authorities and the Council of Europe has been instrumental for the progress achieved so far and underlines the need that such co-operation continues in future. The Committee of Ministers encourages the Croatian authorities to make further progress on all the above matters.