Freedom House: Agrokor ‘worsened’ democracy in Croatia

The state of democracy in Croatia is at its worst in the last decade due to a deficit in democratic governance, states the latest annual report from the American non-governmental organization Freedom House on the development of democracy in 29 transitional countries.

The American non-governmental organization Freedom House, which focuses on researching and supporting democracy, freedom, and human rights worldwide, has published its regular annual report on Countries in Transition, which discusses the state of democracy in 29 post-communist countries in Europe and Asia.

Countries in the Freedom House study are evaluated in seven categories: electoral process, civil society, media independence, national democratic governance, local democratic governance, legislation, and judicial independence and corruption. The best score is one, and the worst is seven.

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Based on the scores received, countries are classified into five categories: consolidated democracies, semi-consolidated democracies, transitional governments or hybrid regimes, semi-consolidated authoritarian regimes, and consolidated authoritarian regimes.

Croatia received an overall score of 3.75, which is its worst result since 2009 and belongs to the category of semi-consolidated democracies.

Deep dysfunctionality in the relationships of the political elite

The report for Croatia particularly highlights the drop in the score in the category of democratic governance at the national level (from 3.50 to 3.75), which is attributed to the Agrokor case and the way the authorities handled this issue. According to FH, the Agrokor case revealed deep dysfunctionality in the relationships between the political elite and business interests and increased systemic risk for the regional economy.

It is also added that “illiberal groups” are strengthening in Croatia, which the Croatian government and president tolerate or even support. In the other six categories, Croatia is stagnating.

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The civil society sector is generally rated the best (the same as last year at 2.75), where FH mentions the “vibrant” year of 2017. It is noted that the government, under pressure from right-wing groups and the Catholic Church, is indecisive in implementing education reform, problems in the implementation of women’s rights and LGBT rights are mentioned, and there is concern about the far-right tendencies of some groups and the case of placing the HOS plaque with the Ustasha salute in Jasenovac.

As a positive note, a calmer celebration of the anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin is mentioned, which FH otherwise rates as a “highly charged political event.”

Croatia has not progressed in terms of media freedom (the score remained at 4.25). FH explains this by stating that political and economic forces continue to try to influence and control the three largest television stations (HRT, RTL, Nova TV), as well as the daily newspapers Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija, Večernji list, and Novi list.

In the electoral process, Croatia was rated a three, democratic governance at the local level remained at 3.75, and the state of corruption at 4.25.

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Overall, the judiciary and its independence received the worst score again – 4.50. This is attributed to the politicization of the State Judicial Council (DSV), the body that appoints judges, and trials such as that of Tomislav Horvatinčić, who was acquitted of the murder of two Italians at sea, which caused outrage among the Croatian public, writes FH.

Other countries are also in decline

This year – for the second consecutive year – FH records more countries with consolidated authoritarian regimes than consolidated democracies among transitional countries.

Consolidated democracies are the three Baltic states – Estonia (score 1.82 – the best of all in this report), followed by Latvia (2.07), Slovenia (2.07), the Czech Republic (2.29), Lithuania (2.36), Slovakia (2.61), and Poland (2.89). Semi-consolidated democracies include, along with Croatia, Bulgaria (3.39), Romania (3.46), Hungary (3.71), Montenegro (3.93), and Serbia (3.96).

The third category includes North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.64), Albania and Kosovo, as well as Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia, which received scores between four and five. Armenia is a semi-consolidated authoritarian regime, while the last category includes Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

FH emphasizes that Poland recorded the largest annual decline in one category in the history of this report (democratic governance at the national level from 3.25 to 4.00), and the second largest in overall score (from 2.54 to 2.89), while Hungary records the largest cumulative failure as its score has fallen for the tenth consecutive year.

Serbia’s result has declined for the fourth consecutive year, threatening its status as a semi-consolidated democracy. Bright spots this year are North Macedonia, Uzbekistan, and Estonia, which are making progress in overall democratic development.

The idea of illiberal democracy is spreading across Europe

In 2017, illiberal democracy was established as a standard in the region stretching from Central Europe to Eurasia. In Central Europe, governments that despise independent institutions and attempt to equate the ruling party with the state are no longer exceptions.

Illiberalism has spread beyond Poland and Hungary. Government members and presidents in almost every country in the report now regularly criticize non-governmental organizations and independent media as agents of foreign powers that harm the nation.

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Illiberalism is defined in the report as an ideological stance that rejects the need for independent institutions and the idea of legitimate dissent in the public sphere. Citizens are allowed to protest or establish NGOs and write critical comments without fear of ending up in prison. However, such activities will expose them to government investigations, attacks in state media, and discrimination in employment.

What Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called “illiberal democracy” in 2014 is actually a return to practices of that form of communism in which individual persecutions are relatively rare, but independent institutions do not exist, and the ruling party and the state are equated.

Events outside the scope of the “Nations in Transit” report support these trends – in the US with the spread of fake news, in France where far-right Marine Le Pen managed to enter the second round of the presidential elections, the formation of a government in Austria that includes the far-right Freedom Party, and the successes of Alternative for Germany.

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The consolidation of democratic institutions in post-communist countries in Europe that occurred in the late 90s and early 2000s has now either stalled or has a reverse trend, concludes the report. Hungary and Bulgaria are no longer “consolidated democracies,” and Poland is close to losing that status.

The sensitive post-war ‘status quo’ established in the Balkans – to which the report also classifies Croatia – is also weakening, the report states, citing dysfunctional institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the renewed strengthening of nationalist rhetoric.

– Democracy strengthened in the Balkans from 2005 to 2010, but is now weakening again, with the only exception being North Macedonia, the report emphasizes.

In addition, countries in the Eurasian region could easily slide towards becoming authoritarian regimes, as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan are heading in a negative direction.