Europeanization of Croatian Political Parties

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Europeanization of Croatian political parties

Master thesis

for the award of the academic degree of

Master of Arts (MA)

at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz

Submitted by:

Mia JURKOVIC

at the Centre for Southeast European Studies

Supervisor: Univ. - Prof. Dr. Florian Bieber

Graz, 2017

Acknowledgments

Hereby I express my utmost gratitude and appreciation for all those who stood by my side during the course of my education and who never doubted my path, even while I myself did.

Special gratitude is dedicated to the lifelong support given to me by my parents and an economist and a physicist who as two patronuses guarded my pathway in order to ensure that I neither give up nor lose my happy thoughts and marbles. With their help I came to an end of my academic journey chapter, but I know if I ever decide to write new sequels that once again I can count on their unconditional love and support.

Abstract:

Croatia marked three years as a full European Union member state in 2016, but its Europeanization process started more than a decade and a half ago. Not only did the state itself undergo the process of Europeanization, but political parties in Croatia did as well.

Research on behalf of political parties in Croatia is generally lacking and has become even greater in recent years after the accession. To this general lack, there is even a bigger absence of literature about Europeanization, either in Croatian or almost any kind of empirical research that combines Europeanization with Croatian political parties. This is why this thesis intents to combine Europeanization and political party research and aims to investigate five Croatian relevant political parties’ statutes in order to find indicators of Europeanization in them and characterize them with the help of the qualitative content statutory analysis. The research will in the end present the found Europeanization evidence in parties under investigation with their full properties and characteristics and reveal some peculiarities of each party statute in particular in regard to party Europeanization.

Keywords: Europeanization, Croatia, relevant political parties, Europeanization of political parties Kurzfassung:

Im Jahre 2016 feierte Kroatien nun schon sein drittes Jubiläum als vollwertiges Mitglied der Europäischen Union. Der Europäisierungsprozess innerhalb des Landes begann jedoch schon vor mehr als einem Jahrzehnt. Nicht nur der Staat selbst wurde dem Prozess der Europäisierung unterworfen, sondern auch die politischen Parteien.

Generell gibt es einen Mangel an Forschung über politische Parteien innerhalb Kroatiens, der in den letzten Jahren nach dem Beitritt zur Europäischen Union sogar noch größer erscheint. Dies zeigt sich auch durch eine immer größere Abwesenheit von Literatur über die Europäisierung in der Landessprache und dem Fehlen fast jeglicher Art von empirischer Forschung, die das Thema Europäisierung mit Kroatischen politischen Parteien kombiniert. Auf Grund dieses Mangels konzentriert sich diese Arbeit auf das Thema Europäisierung innerhalb von politischen Parteien und wird fünf Statuten der in Kroatien relevanten politischen Parteien untersuchen. Mit Hilfe der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse wird versucht werden in ihren Parteistatuten Indikatoren der Europäisierung zu finden und mehr über ihre Eigenschaften zu erfahren. Schlussendlich soll diese wissenschaftliche Analyse am Ende Anzeichen der Europäisierung in den untersuchten Parteien mit ihren vollen Eigenschaften und Merkmalen aufzeigen und einige Besonderheiten jedes Parteienstatus, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Europäisierung, enthüllen.

Schlüsselwörter: Europäisierung, Kroatien, relevante politische Parteien, Europäisierung von politischen Parteien

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction and historical context ...... 1 2. Research goal and research question ...... 5 3. Theoretical part – unpacking and defining a concept ...... 6 3.1. Literature review ...... 6 3.2. An overview and definitions of Europeanization and political parties ... 11 3.2.1. What are political parties? ...... 17 3.3. Europeanization of political parties conceptually ...... 23 3.3.1. Relevant political parties ...... 28

4. Europeanization of political parties methodologically ...... 30 4.1. Relevant political parties in Croatia ...... 35 4.2. Qualitative content statutory analysis ...... 38

5. Empirical results of Croatian party Europeanization ...... 41 5.1. Croatian Democratic Union – HDZ ...... 43 5.1.1. HDZ party statute Europeanization ...... 44 5.2. Social Democratic Party – SDP ...... 51 5.2.1. SDP party statute Europeanization ...... 52 5.3. Croatian Peasant Party – HSS ...... 56 5.3.1. HSS party statute Europeanization ...... 57 5.4. Croatian People’s Party – Liberal Democrats – HNS ...... 61 5.4.1. HNS party statute Europeanization ...... 62 5.5. Istrian Democratic Assembly – IDS ...... 67 5.5.1. IDS party statute Europeanization ...... 68

6. Conclusion ...... 71 7. Bibliography ...... 76 8. Annex ...... 87

List of Abbreviations

ALDE The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe CEE Central and Eastern Europe CMP Comparative Manifesto Project DC Democratic Centre (Demokratski centar) EC European Community EP European Parliament EPP European Peoples Party EU European Union Europarties European transnational party federations HDZ Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica) HNS Croatian People’s Party (Hrvatska narodna stranka – liberalni demokrati) HSLS Croatian Social Liberal Party (Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka) HSS Croatian Peasant Party (Hrvatska seljačka stranka) HSU Croatian Party of Pensioners (Hrvatska stranka umirovljenika) IDS Istrian Democratic Assembly (Istarski demokratski sabor – Dieta democratica Istriana) MEPs Members of the European Parliament MOST Bridge of Independent Lists PES Party of European Socialists SEA Single European Act SDP Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske) SDSS Independent Democratic Serb Party (Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka) The Commission European Commission The Council Council of the European Union (formerly the Council of Ministers) The Parliament European Parliament The Union European Union

1. Introduction and historical context

On July 1st 2016, Croatia marked three years of European Union (EU) membership. The journey to membership started all the way back in 2001, when on December 5th the Croatian Parliament ratified the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA)1. Some authors even claim it started in 1999, when the process of European integration began for Western Balkan countries with the launch of the SAA2. Disregarding a year sooner or later, after the Zagreb Summit in 2000, the true process of Croatia coming closer to the EU began3. Soon, an official request for membership followed and was met with a positive avis from the Commission in April of 20044. Two months later, in June, Croatia received its official status as a candidate country5. Negotiations on EU accession started on October 3rd 2005 and the goal of membership was ultimately achieved on July 1st 20136.

The event of July 1st is considered one of the most important events in Croatian history, after achieving independence and territorial integrity. It was often referred to as one of the most important national and state political goals7, with numerous indicators that political consensus has been met on behalf of EU membership. One of the best examples pointing to this consensus is the ‘Alliance for Europe’, a national strategy to include all political parties in efforts to accomplish Croatia's EU plan, which started in 2005 at the time of negotiations8. Among other, that alliance is an indicator that there were no parliamentary parties in Croatia opposed to membership, and even more important, it meant that parties in Croatia, which have been and still are biggest rivals, have put their rivalry aside and collaborated together in order to achieve what everyone called a strategic foreign policy goal9. Under the leadership of the former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, it was even declared that EU membership is a main

1Available at: http://www.mvep.hr/hr/hrvatska-i-europska-unija/pregovori/ [Accessed on May 19th 2016] 2Beširević, N. (2012). Demokratizacija i europeizacija kao teorijski okviri instrumenta uvjetovanosti u „Politici proširenja“ Europske unije. Političke perspektive, 1: 35. 3Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Zagreb: Fakultet Političkih znanosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu: 3. 4Available at: http://www.mvep.hr/hr/hrvatska-i-europska-unija/pregovori/ [Accessed on May 19th 2016] 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7Available at: http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/2005/01/29/HRT0003.html [Accessed on May 19th 2016] 8Available at: https://www.vlada.hr/news/pm-sanader-pusic-hold-preparatory-meeting-of-committee-for-croatia- s-eu-membership-bid/15380?impaired=0 [Accessed on May 19th 2016] 9Available at: http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/sanader-za-jutarnji-savez-za-europu-je-strateski-cilj-a-ne- koalicija/246776.aspx [Accessed on May 19th 2016] 1

strategic goal10 and the importance of EU accession was often compared to the attainment of independence11.

From 2005 onward, EU discourse increased even more and with it the EU’s importance grew12. The ‘European cause’ was put above partisan strife13 and as all parliamentary parties in Croatia were in favor of membership, the course of Europeanization set sail. Rather than differing on European matters, parties started the trend of competing for the ‘role of the more European party’, and soon, tried to position themselves as the ‘actor’ most responsible for the eventual accession success14. They also started to be more associated with European party federations (Europarties)15.

Dates mentioned so far are not in vain, since it is considered that by looking into historic phases of the accession process Europeanization steps can be identified. There are five steps of Europeanization every state goes through throughout the period of EU accession according to Lippert et al. There is the pre-phase, when the first contact is established16, which was the PHARE programme in Croatia’s case17. The first phase begins when the first agreement with the EU is signed18, in Croatian case the SAA. The second phase, is embracing the pre- accession period, when first institutional adaptations are done and the third stage is the negotiation process19. In the last step comes the stage of Europeanization as a full member20. In Croatia, the second stage was characterized by receiving candidacy status21 and the third stage was obviously the negotiation process starting in 2005. Last comes the membership phase, in which Croatia is at the moment and has been for the last three years.

Altogether, with first clear alternation of power, with parliamentary elections of 2000 and with the ratification of SAA, Croatia’s official process of European integration started and

10Maldini, P., & Pauković, D. (Eds.). (2016). Croatia and the European Union: Changes and development. Routledge: 54. 11 Ibid: 63. 12 Ibid: 54. 13 Ibid: 168. 14 Ibid: 170. 15 Ibid. 16Lippert, B., Umbach, G., & Wessels, W. (2001). Europeanization of CEE executives: EU membership negotiations as a shaping power. Journal of European Public Policy, 8 (6): 985. 17Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Fakultet Političkih znanosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb: 193. 18Lippert, B., Umbach, G., & Wessels, W. (2001). Europeanization of CEE executives: EU membership negotiations as a shaping power. Journal of European Public Policy, 8 (6): 985. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Fakultet Politič kih znanosti Sveuč iliš ta u Zagrebu, Zagreb: 193. 2

with it the process of Europeanization as well22. In Croatia the process coincided with the transformation of the political and party system23, but even though this might seem peculiar, it is not surprising since political parties are the primary political actors and carriers of change, and the ones implementing policies24. In Croatia, it took some time for its parties to become primary political carriers of change, because the political system developed differently than ‘old European democratic’ political systems.

The Croatian political system is a lot younger than the ones in ‘old European democracies’25. Currently it is two and a half decades old and by its character, it is a multi-party system that during the 1990s had a bipolarized parliament and two parties holding more than 90 percent of mandates in the national parliament26. During the 1990s, there was also a lot of disagreement about the desirability of a liberal democracy and almost a decade was necessary for change, gradual moderation and democratic consolidation27. After the 2000 elections, after Tuđman’s death and the removal of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) from power, a turn happened and consolidation of democracy started28. Initially, Croatia could have become a liberal democracy sooner, because it had the preconditions for a competitive party system after the communist exit, but instead, communist rule was replaced with ten years of uninterrupted HDZ rule and absence of power alternations, which was probably due to the state building process being developed parallel29.

Anyhow, as soon as the democratic turn happened, party competition became the driving force of democratization. This turn also happened because all main parties adopted a liberal political practice, a practice that was accompanied with a pro-European attitude30. So, with political party competition becoming the driving force of democratization and the driving force behind this turn, change was introduced31. This confirms the importance of political parties in general, but also how they mattered in Croatia from 2000 onward.

22Maldini, P., & Pauković, D. (Eds.). (2016). Croatia and the European Union: Changes and development. Routledge: 168. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid: 159. 25Zakoš ek, N. (2002). Politič ki sustav Hrvatske. Fakultet Politič kih znanosti, Zagreb: Introduction. 26 Ibid: 90. 27Zakošek, N. (2007). The Heavy Burden of History: Political Uses of the Past in the Yugoslav Successor States. Politička misao, XLIV (5): 39. 28Dolenec, D. (2008). Europeanization as a Democratising Force in Postcommunist Europe: Croatia in Comparative Perspective. Politička misao, XLV (5): 32 – 34. 29 Ibid: 34. 30 Ibid: 42. 31 Ibid: 32 – 34. 3

The multi-party system remained to date32, with political parties being free establishments and expressions of the democratic multi-party system as the highest value of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia33. They are also legal entities which act politically, accordingly with the objectives laid down in their programmes and statutes34. Their activities are public, but they can deny public access in the cases they envisioned in their party statutes35. They are governed by its members directly and through elected representatives in governing bodies, again envisioned in their party statutes36. Their importance and functions are the same as in other liberal democracies, just that they had an irreplaceable role at the turn of the century. They have even considerably adapted in their organizational aspects and activities to political parties from ‘older democracies’. This way, once again, parties in Croatia have significantly contributed to the consolidation of democracy37.

Due to their importance in Croatia as carriers of change they deserve more attention, especially in the light of recent developments, in the light of EU membership and Europeanization. They have generally been neglected in domestic scientific literature and this is exactly why they are at the centre of this thesis’ research.

Not all Croatian political parties can or will be researched, but only the ones identified as relevant: the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Croatian People’s Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS) and last, the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS). Their relevance was determined with the help of theory and methodology, but even at first sight it is clear to anyone following Croatian politics that these five have by far contributed most to political change and European integration, due to their governmental and parliamentary presence, as well as from functions their representatives had either in government or opposition.

Investigating them now, when Croatia is in its last Europeanization phase, could not have come in a better time in order to find whether their active involvement in European integration left indicators of Europeanization on them and if so, with what kind of characteristics.

32Available at: http://www.eu-croatia.org/politics [Accessed May 23rd 2016] 33Available at: http://www.zakon.hr/z/549/Zakon-o-politi%C4%8Dkim-strankama [Accessed April 3rd 2016] The translation of the Law was conducted by the author of the thesis herself. 34 Ibid. The translation of the Law was conducted by the author of the thesis herself. 35 Ibid. The translation of the Law was conducted by the author of the thesis herself. 36 Ibid. The translation of the Law was conducted by the author of the thesis herself. 37Milardović, A., Lalić, D. & Malenica, Z. (2007). Kriza i transformacija politič kih stranaka. Zagreb: CIP: 107. 4

2. Research goal and research question

As indicated from the Introduction, the main idea behind this thesis’ research is to identify Europeanization in Croatian political parties after EU accession, in the last Europeanization phase, in the period when change is not necessarily a consequence of EU integration and the asymmetrical negotiation process. It is anticipated that change comes as a willing consequence of being a part of a greater integration and that there is no pressure for political parties to necessarily change if they decide not to, as there are no more consequences such as exclusion from ‘the EU club’ when they have already joined it. Parties are therefore no more obliged to change anything about them as a consequence of desired membership, but this does not mean that even though there is no more ‘stick’ compelling them to change that they do not want to get more ‘carrots’, which still leads them to making adjustment even though part of the ‘club’. These adjustments they made potentially left mark on them and as they are the biggest carriers of political change after the turn of the millennium and have central positions in democratic societies, which is especially true for Croatia, it would be interesting to find whether the EU setting left its mark. From all of this, a research question that arises is:

Can Europeanization be identified in Croatian political parties and if so, what are its indicators and characteristics?

Not all Croatian parties will be under investigation but only five that were established as relevant with the help of Sartori’s criteria, nor will they be investigated throughout the entire period of their existence. Furthermore, not everything about these parties will be under investigation, since it would be too lengthy and extensive for a master thesis. With the help of the qualitative content statutory analysis their latest political party statutes will be under investigation, chosen as party investigation areas on behalf of Ladrech’s five suggested areas of investigating party Europeanization, starting from July of 2016 when this thesis’ empirical research began. It should be noted that latest statutes means either last amended or replenished, aside from whether it happened before or after EU accession, because Europeanization already started more than a decade ago and some political parties amended and replenished way before accession or some amended or replenished in 2016. In their political party statutes Europeanization will be looked for, its indicators, and if found, its characteristics in order to answer the research question.

3. Theoretical part – unpacking and defining a concept

To establish a theoretical basis for the following political party Europeanization research and analysis, it is necessary to get a general insight from various definitions which are important for this thesis and from reviewed literature. Definitions such as: ‘Europeanization’, ‘political parties’, ‘relevant political parties’, and consequently ‘Europeanization of political parties’ as they, together with the reviewed literature set ground for further research.

3.1. Literature review Even though Europeanization received much attention in last two decades, is considered a growth industry38 and can be found in different types of literature with a growing popularity, finding exactly the right literature was a lot more difficult than anticipated. In Croatia, finding scientific Europeanization literature was anything but easy, especially literature that encompasses both the phenomenon of Europeanization and Croatian political parties.

Type of literature necessary for this thesis falls into the politics domain of Europeanization literature39. From a general stand point there are enough sources that deal with the politics domain of Europeanization research, but less focus on political parties, and almost none focus on Croatian political parties.

Finding research on behalf of just Croatian political parties, was not much easier, since it should be noted that political party research is addressed by a relatively small number of political scientist who are wholly or predominantly occupied with researching parties40. There are two major groups of political scientists that deal with political parties in Croatia, one is researchers from the Faculty of Political science in Zagreb41 and the other is a group of scientist closely tied with the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar42. Only few of them have in their research even addressed Croatian parties in the same sentence with European integration or EU, especially after the accession.

38 The term ‘growth industry’ was introduced by Olsen. In: Olsen, J. P. (2002). The Many Faces of Europeanization. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40 (5): 921. 39Börzel and Risse have identified that Europeanization can be researched in three different domains or dimensions, which are politics, polity and policies. Political parties obviously fall into the domain of politics. In: Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2000). When Europe Hits Home: Europeanization and Domestic Change. European Integration Online Papers (EIoP), 4(15). 40Milardović, A., Lalić, D. & Malenica, Z. (2007). Kriza i transformacija politič kih stranaka. Zagreb: CIP: 24. 41 Hereby the author addresses the following: Ivan Šiber, Mirjana Kasapović, Nenad Zakošek, Dražen Lalić, Ivan Grdešić, Zdravko Petak, Goran Čular and Marijana Grbeša. In: Zakoš ek, N. (2002). Politič ki sustav Hrvatske. Zagreb: Fakultet Politič kih znanosti: Introduction. 42 Hereby the author addresses the following: Ivan Rimac and Vesna Posavec - Lamza. Ibid. 6

Equally difficult was finding literature on Croatian language. For a decade only Damir Grubiša’s and Mario Sošić’s work43 that addressed Europeanization from a general stand point was available. From 2012 there is a book – a collection of papers, edited by Nataša Beširević, Hrvoje Špehar and Damir Grubiša44, where all three domains of Europeanization research are covered by different authors, again generally and theoretically. Ivana Babić Krešić45 also wrote a paper in 2015, in which she generally addresses the phenomenon of Europeanization among other phenomena.

In the Europeanization domains of polity and policies, research is easier to find but it is still not an academic growth industry46 like elsewhere and these are not the domains of this thesis’ interest. Nonetheless for the purposes of covering available Europeanization literature and thereby also pointing how little work has been done on behalf of Europeanization in Croatia, the literature review will continue. Several scholars addressed Europeanization theoretically but mostly in the domain of policies, without going into any kind of empirical research47. Their contribution is in so that they enriched the literature about Europeanization on Croatian language, literature which is quite poor. There are even some authors who only used Europeanization as a synonym in their research48.

In the end there are some, even though a lot less, who did actual empirical research of Europeanization in all three domains. In the domain of policy, books and handbooks on Europeanization of public and civil administration can be found. Anamarija Musa49 and Ivan

43Grubiša, Damir, 2006: The Europeanization of Politics: Building a Terminology for European Studies, Anali hrvatskog politološkog društva 2 (1). Sošić, M. (2007). Europeizacija nacionalnih politika: Koncept i istraživački pristup. Anali hrvatskog politološkog društva, 3(1). 44Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Zagreb: Fakultet Politič kih znanosti Sveuč iliš ta u Zagrebu. 45Babić Krešić, I. (2015). Globalizacija, europeizacija i tranzicija – fenomeni današnjice i smjernice budućeg razvoja. Nova prisutnost, XIII (3), 381 – 408. 46Olsen, J. P. (2002). The Many Faces of Europeanization. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40 (5): 921. 47 Several scholars refers to Anamarija Musa, Ivana Krešić Babić, Hrvoje Špehar, Paul Stubbs, Nikola Baketa, Tihomir Žiljak, Ivana Maletić, Davor Vašiček and possibly others. Listed in the Bibliography. 48 Refers to Boris Banovac, Robert Blažević and Željko Boneta, who used the term Europeanization as modernization. Later, Nataša Beširević used Europeanization as a term intertwined with democratization, being both phenomenon’s that are mutually conditioned. Listed in the Bibliography. 49Musa, A. (2014). Agencijski model javne uprave. Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Musa, A. (2015). Prilagodba procesa izrade propisa europskim integracijama: Novine i izazovi. Godišnjak Akademije pravnih znanosti Hrvatske, 6 (1), 3 – 40. Marčetić, G., & Musa, A. (2013). Europeizacija službeničkog prava: Usklađivanje hrvatskog zakonodavstva s europskim standardima. Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Splitu, 50 (3), 725 – 756. 7

Koprić50 seem to be forerunners in the field of public administration Europeanization. Data which they analyze comes mostly out of laws, directives and regulations which had to be introduced in Croatia as part of the acquis communautaire. Similar was done in the field of civil protection, again a type of public administration Europeanization, as Anđela Huzanić Jerkov analyzes the legal and organizational aspects of the transformation of the civil protection system and its adjustments to European standards by looking into laws51. Igor Vidačak and Marina Škrabalo also addressed public administration Europeanization in terms of openness of public administration affected by Europeanization. As their colleagues, they also analyze data out of documents, legislative acts etc., but as a novelty they interviewed key policymakers52. Last in this field is a research by Gojko Bežovan in which he analyzes the role of civil society and public administration as partakers in the development of combined social policy. His research was collected through questionnaires sent to counties, cities, centres for social welfare, social institutions and organizations in the field of social policy throughout Croatia53. There is also a research on behalf of asylum policy Europeanization by Goranka Lalić Novak and there is a research by Marko Trnski on Europeanization of regional policies54.

In the policy domain Marcin Walecki came closest to this thesis’ topic as he mentioned Croatia both in the light of Europeanization and political parties, but in the context of party financing policies. He looked into legal frameworks for party funding, particularly party regulations and how they have adjusted in candidate countries during the accession period55.

50Koprić, I. (Ed.). (2014). Europeizacija hrvatske javne uprave. Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Koprić, I. (2014). Prilagodbe hrvatske javne uprave europskim standardima. Godišnjak Akademije pravnih znanosti Hrvatske, 5 (1), 8 – 39. Koprić, I., Lalić Novak & G. Musa, A., (2011). Dobra uprava kao ulaznica za europski upravni prostor. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 61 (5), 1515 – 1560. Koprić, I. (2011). Suvremena hrvatska javna uprava na valovima reforme. Godišnjak Akademije pravnih znanosti Hrvatske, 2 (1), 1 – 40. Koprić, I. (2008). Upravljanje reformom javne uprave u Hrvatskoj. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava, 8 (3), 551 – 564. 51Huzanić Jerkov A. (2015). Europeizacija civilne zaštite u Hrvatskoj. Institut za javnu upravu, Zagreb. 52Škrabalo, M. &Vidačak, I. (2014). Exploring the Effects of Europeanization on the Openness of Public Administration in Croatia. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava, 14 (1), 149 – 187. 53Bežovan, G. (2009). Civilno društvo i javna uprava kao dionici razvoja kombinirane socijalne politike u Hrvatskoj. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava, 9 (2), 355 – 390. 54Trnski, M. (2010). No Policy on the Horizon? Europeanization and Regional Policy in Croatia. Politička misao, 46 (5), 181 – 209. 55Walecki, Marcin, (2007) The Europeanization of Political Parties: Influencing the Regulations on Political Finance, MWP Working Paper No. 2007/29, European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole. 8

In the domain of polity, Sanja Barić and Dana Dobrić did a study of civil society Europeanization56 and Damir Grubiša did a study of Croatia’s security discourse Europeanization57. He described and analyzed the National Security Strategy in order to assess how the Croatian security consciousness is fit to join the European concept of democratic security and share its values58.

In the domain of politics, special attention was given to finding literature that encompasses both the phenomenon of Europeanization and political parties, as well as Croatia, necessary for building this thesis’ theoretical grounds. Here only three works can be mentioned: a book European Union and Europeanization of Croatian politics59, a paper by Bojana Klepač Pogrmilović60, and a paper by Višeslav Raos61.

The books relevance stems from the acknowledgment that not enough research has been done on Europeanization, especially in the domain of politics in Croatia. The paper by Klepač Pogrmilović matters because it is without doubt topic-wise closest to this thesis, and employs a similar methodology as it relies on Ladrech. There are two great differences though. At the time when Klepač Pogrmilović researched political parties, Croatia was not an EU member and she did a qualitative programmatic analysis of five Croatian political parties, which differs from this thesis’ intention to investigate political parties’ statutes as well as it differs in the choice of political parties since she included the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) in her research, along with HDZ, SDP, HNS and HSS. The paper by Raos does not offer any new insights neither methodologically neither theoretically but has found its place on this list due to the mention of political party Europeanization and two Croatian political parties (IDS and Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja – HDSSB) in a single paper that discusses regionalist political parties Europeanization.

Considering that scientific literature on behalf of party Europeanization in Croatia is almost non-existing, literature and studies had to be found elsewhere, following the same framework

56Barić, S., & Dobrić, D. (2012). Europeizacija civilnog društva u RH: Shvaćanje socijalnog kapitala ozbiljno? Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, 33 (2), 883 – 916. 57Grubiša, D. (2010). The Europeanization of Croatia’s Security Discourse. Politička misao, 46 (5), 39 – 53. 58 Ibid: 42. 59Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Zagreb: Fakultet Politič kih znanosti Sveuč iliš ta u Zagrebu. 60Klepač Pogrmilović, B. (2010). Europeanization of Croatian Political Parties. Politička misao, 47 (5). 61Raos, V. (2012). Regionalist Parties in the European Union: A Force to Be Reckoned With? Croatian International Relations Review, 17(64/65), 45 – 55. 9

as this thesis does, suggested by Ladrech, who is responsible for setting a theoretical and methodological framework for investigating political party Europeanization and on whose work this thesis strongly relies upon. Ladrech’s contribution to Europeanization is extensive and it would be too broad to address all party Europeanization studies which follow Ladrech’s methodological research framework so several ones are presented as examples in the methodological chapter of the thesis, as they contributed both to this thesis’ theoretical and methodological framework. Some of these studies relying on Ladrech’s framework also rely upon Sartori’s criteria in determining which political parties are relevant for research.

Conclusively it is left to say that the empirical research of this thesis will differ from the research done so far in so that it will focus on Croatian political parties affected by Europeanization and disclosed in their party statutes.

This matters, because we live in a time when European integration provides an incentive for the creation of a transnational political system. The ones possessing knowledge about the system, about how the EU and its integration works, will be able to be involved. Therefore, as it is important to research EU’s character, so it is important to research individual spheres, forming important segments of it, such as political parties, which are an indispensable link in the formation of the will within parliament and government62.

Political parties are also the ones who select future European decision-makers and the ones actually involved in EU politics and the ones creating politics throughout their representatives which is exactly why it is relevant to research national parties as they are the ones governing EU member states, at least in all party government states, which Croatia falls into among other member states63.

Moreover, there is a distinguishable gap of scientific work regarding Europeanization of Croatia since it became an EU member state, particularly in the politics domain. To it all, there is also a convenience that investigation cannot be done right away in new member states because party Europeanization usually occurs after some time has passed since EU accession, so it is very suitable that already three full years of membership passed64.

62Beyme, K. (2002). Transformacija političkih stranaka. Zagreb: Fakultet Političkih znanosti: 4. 63Poguntke, T. (2008), ‘Party Government in the EU: On the Road to Presidentialization?’, European University Institute, Florence/Italy, Working paper SPS Nr. 10: 1 – 2. 64Maldini, P., & Pauković, D. (Eds.). (2015). Croatia and the European Union: Changes and development. Farnham: Ashgate: 160. 10

3.2. An overview and definitions of Europeanization and political parties In the beginning it was said that relevant political parties and party Europeanization both have theoretical and methodological significance and need to be presented separately, first in the theoretical and then in the methodological part of the thesis. These terms will be frequently used, they set ground for the empirical part and therefore they have to be well defined. Having this in mind it is important to include a critical reflection of definitions used in the academic discourse, having for various reasons, often very different connotations, which the reader has to be made aware of before embarking on the journey with this thesis.

Definitions serve more than one purpose, and depending on the purpose, their nature changes65. They have to be distinct66. The successfulness of the distinctiveness of a definition from other terms lies in exclusion of everything that it does not stand for. The same applies for concepts but unlike definitions, concepts have more complexity, more adjectives added to them and more properties67.

Europeanization – a concept, will be first explained with most of its properties attributed to it, including a part explaining what the concept does not stand for to be successful in excluding needles information. The same will be done with political parties. Gradually, the theoretical part will set boundaries and exclude everything that is not of this thesis’s concern that might ‘muddy the waters’ for political party Europeanization.

Europeanization caught the eye of the scientific community and with a growing importance scholars have sought to give it a more precise meaning and have used it to indicate a range of issues68. Some scholar’s meanings and ranges overlap, some do not at all, but if one would summarize the ways in which various scholars have used the term Europeanization it would be distinguished between those who use it to relate specifically to the EU and those that do not relate it to EU specifically69.

65Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 61. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. 68George, S., Bache, I. & Bulmer, S. (2011). Politics in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 59. 69 On page 60 George et al. present a table in which they divide authors referring to the Europeanization phenomenon as an EU and a not EU specific term. Who use it as a non EU specific term are: Bomber, Peterson (2000), Burch, Gomez (2003), Howell (2003) and Olsen (2002, 2003). The ones who do: Héritier et al. (2001), Buller, Gamble (2002), Bulmer, Radaelli (2005), Risse, Cowles, Caporaso (2001), Hanf, Soetendorp (1998), Fairbrass (2003), Bomberg and Peterson (2000), Böorzel (2002), Grabbe (2001, 2003), Olsen again (2002, 2003), Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier (2004, 2005), Dyson and Featherstone (1999) and last Radaelli (2000, 11

Many scholars payed their regard to Europeanization and with time it became a key theme in EU studies and attempts to give it a more precise meaning date back to the 1990s70. Among scientific literature from 1990s onward, several scholars paved ground for others and along set a framework for researching Europeanization generally, which of course paved new paths for other scholars to research Europeanization in particular. As it dates all the way back to 1990s, the term is not new, as its fashionable notion might fool.

It often refers to various things and 'Europeanization' characterizes, defines, and stands for a lot. Sometimes it even relates to other phenomenon such as internationalization and globalization71. What this thesis wants to find out though is how it fits closest to political parties and this is where the wide range of literature becomes scarce and difficult to find, especially related to Croatia and its parties. Nonetheless, in the beginning, an overview of Europeanization is necessary to carefully exclude definitions that are all encompassing to avoid confusion.

One of the first authors who proposed a taxonomy to ‘unpack’ the concept of Europeanization and how to organize research was Radaelli. Already in 2000, even though there was a lively debate about it, he acknowledged that there is not enough known about it and its effects and that therefore political scientists should increase the number of Europeanization empirical research72. But, before the very research, researchers should be warned about potential risks, such as misinformation, conceptual stretching and ‘degreeism’73.

Concept stretching happens most in literature, due to authors attributing too much to Europeanization74. Even the three definitions which will be presented point to it again, as they

20003 and 2004). In: George, S., Bache, I. & Bulmer, S. (2011). Politics in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 59. 70 Ibid. 71Cowles, M. G., Caporaso, J. A., and Risse, T. (2001) (eds.), Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change (Ithaca: Cornell University Press): 3. 72Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 1. 73 Ibid. 74 Radaelli gives examples how far one can stretch Europeanization: Lawton suggested ‘Europeanization is de jure transfer of sovereignty to the EU level, and distinguishes this concept from ‘Europeification’, which he sees as de facto sharing of power between national governments and the European Union’. Börzel sees Europeanization from a perspective when power has already been transferred to the supranational level, saying Europeanization is a ‘process by which domestic policy areas become increasingly subject to European policy-making’. Cowles et al. define Europeanization as ‘the emergence and development at the European level of distinct structures of governance, that is, of political, legal, and social institutions associated with political problem- 12

differ in scope they are covering. Anyhow, regardless of the difference in scope, most Europeanization definitions have in common that policies are frequently mentioned75. Not only are policies frequently mentioned but the ‘creation of rules’ and the ‘European level’ as well, which suggests an extremely broad notion inclusive of both EU’s policies and politics and their repercussions on national systems76. But if Europeanization wants to have a precise meaning, it has to be different and more selective than the notion of EU policy formation and European integration77.

Following that premise, Ladrech had a promising direction in defining it, by emphasizing that it is a process78. Ladrech argued that Europeanization is: an ‘incremental process reorienting the direction and shape of politics to the degree that EC political and economic dynamics become part of the organizational logic of national politics and policy-making’79. By ‘organizational logic’ he referred to the ‘adaptive processes of organizations to a changed or changing environment’ and by explaining it so, he underlines the role of adaptation, learning and policy change and leaves the emphasis on organizations broad enough80.

Drawing upon him, Radaelli offered his own definition. He defined Europeanization as a: ‘processes of (a) construction, (b) diffusion and (c) institutionalization of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, ‘ways of doing things’ and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and consolidated in the making of EU decisions and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse, identities, political structures and public policies’81. This definition seems acknowledged among Radaelli’s peers, judging by the amount of its appearance in Europeanization literature. Europeanization is seen as an interactive process, not a simple process of unilateral reaction to ‘Europe’82.

solving that formalize interactions among the actors, and of policy networks specializing in the creation of authoritative rules’. In: Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 2. 75Ibid: 3. 76 Ibid. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid. 79Ladrech, Robert (1994) ‘Europeanization of domestic politics and institutions: the case of France’, Journal of Common Market Studies 32 (1): 69. 80Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 3 81 Ibid: 4. 82 Ibid 6. 13

Last, Olsen suggested five possible ways of referring to the term ‘Europeanization’. These are: (1) Europeanization as a change in in external territorial boundaries, (2) Europeanization as the development of institutions of governance at the European level, furthermore (3) Europeanization as central penetration of national and subnational systems of governance, (4) Europeanization as exporting forms of political organization and governance that are typical and distinct for Europe beyond the European territory and last (5) Europeanization as a political project aiming at a unified and politically stronger Europe83.

Olsen is not cautions about concept stretching and nor is Grubiša who added (6) a retrospective Europeanization to Olsen’s definition. He says it played an important role for post-communist societies, by first playing a positive role in the initial transformation of the communist society, but also later on by penetrating the domestic institutions, actors, values and processes with the external European ‘ways of doing things’84. As an example of such retrospective Europeanization he mentions Croatia, since out of all European transition countries, Croatia had its retrospective Europeanization last too long, and because of that this delay the penetration of European ‘ways of doing things’ into the domestic sphere was very much delayed85.

Radaelli’s definition seems as the most accommodating one from a general perspective, since it can easily accommodate EU member states and other states too86. It accommodates organizations, institutions, actors and others, either on the EU, on the national or the subnational level of ‘the way of doing thigs’, and it is not too broad87.

On that matter it is necessary to go back to ‘concept stretching’ again to avoid the danger of it88. Not specifying the level of analysis generates mistakes and obfuscates the relations between genus and species89. Concepts without negation and specified termination or

83Olsen, J. P. (2002). The Many Faces of Europeanization. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40 (5), 923 – 924. 84Grubiša, Damir, 2006: The Europeanization of Politics: Building a Terminology for European Studies, Anali hrvatskog politološkog društva, 2005 (2): 133. 85Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Zagreb: Fakultet politič kih znanosti Sveuč iliš ta u Zagrebu: 31. 86Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 4. 87 Ibid. 88Graziano, P. (2013). Europeanization and domestic policy change: The case of Italy. London: Routledge: 9. 89Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 1. 14

boundaries are universals and point to everything90. That is why they have to be described by two fundamental properties: extension and intension91. Intension refers to the collection of properties covered by a concept, while extension refers to the class of entities to which the concept applies92. Lenschow defined it as ‘content’ – what is something about, and ‘scope’ – what it applies to93. The more properties are included in a concept, the smaller will be the class of empirical cases, meaning the more there is ‘intension’ the less will be ‘empirical cases’94.

Beside extension and intension, Europeanization can be broken down to constituent parts and three different substantive theories, each with a specific ‘content’95. This way Europeanization can be (1) Europeanization as downloading or a top-down Europeanization, (2) Europeanization as uploading or a bottom-up Europeanization, and last (3) Europeanization as cross loading or vertical Europeanization96. For empirical reasons and reasons of an easier ‘unpacking’ it is better to choose one substantive theory, either downloading, uploading or cross-loading97.

The latter leads to authors pointing out what falls outside Europeanization. This is good because the terminology has to be narrowed down, but of course this does not mean that one has to stick a very narrow Europeanization definition, thus limiting the scope of analysis for oneself98. It just means that by giving a so called ‘negative’ definition, a ‘positive’ one is easier to form. Several authors helped in this area by insisting on everything that Europeanization is not99.

Europeanization is not convergence, nor harmonization, neither political integration, as well as not a new theory nor an ad hoc approach.

90Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 1. 91 Ibid: 4. 92 Ibid. 93Lenschow, A. (2006). European Union: Power and policy-making (J. Richardson, Ed.). Abingdon: Routledge: 55. 94Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 4. 95Howell, Kerry E. (2004) ‘Developing Conceptualisations of Europeanization: Synthesising Methodological Approaches’, Queen’s Papers on Europeanization, 3: 4. 96 Ibid: 5. 97 Ibid: 10. 98Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 5. 99 Several authors refers to: Radaelli, Börzel and Risse, Sošić, Flockhart, Howell and Dolenec, and possibly others. 15

EU member states tend to become more alike, but so far there is no proof that Europeanization is either convergence or harmonization, which again does not mean that it cannot produce one or the other100. Convergence and harmonization can be a consequence of Europeanization101. Convergence and nether harmonization is on the other hand Europeanization because there is a difference between the processes and its consequences and there are already policy studies that have detected considerable variability102.

Europeanization is not political integration as well103. European integration belongs to the ontological stage, whereas Europeanization belongs to the post-ontological stage of research, being concerned with what happens once EU institutions are in place and produce their effects while European integration is already under its way104. They continuously interact due to the fact that European integration comprises the environment which Europeanization impacts or from which it emanates105, but they are not the same.

In European post-communist countries, Europeanization went hand-in-hand with the process of democratization, so that there would be no confusion, this does not mean that Europeanization equals democratization106. Of course that these terms cannot be entirely separated, since the attainment of democratic standards was a prerequisite for advancements a state can make during accession107, but after membership is achieved, the processes can sometimes go separate ways108.

Last, Europeanization is neither a new theory nor an ad hoc approach. It is rather a way of orchestrating existing concepts and a contribution to research in political science109. At some point, it might be a new theoretical orientation or it might be just a faddish popularity110.

100Sošić, M., (2007). Europeizacija nacionalnih politika: Koncept i istraživački pristup. Anali hrvatskog politološkog društva, 3 (1): 244. 101Radaelli, Claudio M. "Whither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change." European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 4.8 (2000): 6. 102 Ibid. 103 Ibid. 104 Ibid. 105Howell, Kerry E. (2004) ‘Developing Conceptualisations of Europeanization: Synthesising Methodological Approaches’, Queen’s Papers on Europeanization, 3: 8 – 9. 106Dolenec, D. (2008). Europeanization as a Democratising Force in Postcommunist Europe: Croatia in Comparative Perspective. Politička misao, XLV (5): 35. 107Maldini, P., & Pauković, D. (Eds.). (2015). Croatia and the European Union: Changes and development. Farnham: Ashgate: 159. 108 Ibid. 109Radaelli, Claudio M. "Europeanisation: Solution or problem?”. European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 8.16 (2004): 1. 110 Ibid. 16

Currently it is not a field of research on its own111. It is not ‘something that explains’ but something ‘to be explained’112. Finally, there is still no single grand theory of ‘Europeanization’113 and Europeanization itself is not a theory but rather a phenomenon114. It is also a way of organizing concepts and contributing to the normalization of political science by drawing upon comparative politics, international political economy, international relations, and policy analysis115.

Europeanization is indeed a broad concept, sometimes stretched, but it can be regulated116. It is interested in domestic adaptations to the EU, it assumes the EU is a direct or indirect provider of impulses for domestic change and that the EU represents a set of rules, an arena and a discursive framework for domestic actors – a point of departure for impulses117. If approached from the aspect of available empirical materials118, it is also a research concept119.

3.2.1. What are political parties? Recent scientific literature on political parties develops a more conscientious definition of political parties than ever before, in a way that it incorporates many characteristics to be precise when determining what they are120. This way boundaries are set and boundaries distinguishing between them and factions, political movements, mere political associations, as well as between them and pressure and interest groups121. Still, the question remains – what are they?

They are the key intermediary between society and government122. They are any political group that presents itself at elections and is capable of placing candidates for public office

111Radaelli, Claudio M. "Europeanisation: Solution or problem?”. European Integration Online Papers (EIoP) 8.16 (2004): 1. 112 Ibid: 4. 113Olsen, J. P. (2002). The Many Faces of Europeanization. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40 (5): 944. 114Graziano, P. (2013). Europeanization and domestic policy change: The case of Italy. London: Routledge: 10. 115Ibid: 17. 116Lenschow, A. (2006). European Union: Power and policy-making (J. Richardson, Ed.). Abingdon: Routledge: 55. 117 Ibid: 57. 118Grubiša, Damir, 2006: The Europeanization of Politics: Building a Terminology for European Studies, Anali hrvatskog politološkog društva, 2005 (2): 139. 119Grubiš a, D., Beš irević, N., & Š pehar, H. (Eds.). (2012). Politič ki sustav Europske Unije i europeizacija hrvatske politike: Zbornik radova. Zagreb: Fakultet politič kih znanosti Sveuč iliš ta u Zagrebu: 34. 120Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 62. 121 Ibid: 63. 122 Ibid: Preface. 17

through elections123. They are channels of expression124. As channels of expression they are means of representation, as they are intermediaries and instruments in representing the people through expressing their demands125. Furthermore, they are institutions for the translation of mass preferences into public policy126.

In the last 150 years they developed into what they are today, making them historically organizational substitutes for the rule of old aristocratic elites127. It was their challengers, liberals, radicals and others who in the 19th century, organized first parties128. This is no surprise, since only monarchial and aristocratic regimes were able to organize for the exercise of power, and power was limited to a group of particular noblemen or influential people129. Historically, they also had a role in shaping political systems around them, or even completing the formation of societies and nations themselves130.

Nowadays they contribute to legitimacy of a political system131 and they are: Permanent associations of citizens, based on free membership and a programme, that are anxious to occupy, through the path of elections, the politically decisive positions of the country with their team of leaders, in order to materialize suggestions for resolving outstanding problems132.

Without them a democracy could hardly exist133. Their operating environments – political systems differ, but differences aside, most parties have functioning roles in common and they shape the character of democratic experience through work in parliament, elections, in organizing and mobilizing citizenry in support of their policy positions and expressing political terms134. They constantly change, because they adapt to developments of their societies and states135. Due to pace of their change, they make political scientists want to research them, which is clear since they are fully accepted as essential organizations in the

123Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 66. 124 Ibid: 38. 125 Ibid: 40. 126Key, V. O. (1961). Public opinion and American democracy. New York: Knopf: 433. 127Beyme, K. (2002). Transformacija političkih stranaka. Zagreb: Fakultet Političkih znanosti: 8 – 9. 128 Ibid. 129 Available at: http://www.britannica.com/topic/political-party [Accessed May 23rd 2016] 130Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 7. 131Hofmeister, W., & Grabow, K. (2011). Political parties: Functions and organisation in democratic societies. Singapore. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: 16. 132Ibid: 12. 133Katz, R. S., & Crotty, W. J. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of party politics. London: SAGE: 1. 134 Ibid. 135 Ibid: 1 – 3. 18

modern state136. Their importance matters most in democratic societies, where they live up their full potential. Due to all, in the EU their importance is growing137.

Since the introduction of direct elections to the European Parliament (EP), a wider community of scholars began to focus on their role138. In the early 1990s, political parties emerged as ‘crucial carriers of integration’ due to changes brought by Single European Act (SEA) and the Maastricht Treaty139. Even before the Maastricht Treaty, several intergovernmental conferences were held by the Socialist, Christian Democrats and Liberals, sort of ‘party leaders’ summits, which resulted in a so called ‘Party Article’ that was inserted in the Treaty – an article with a reference to the role of political parties in future EU legislation140. This is relevant because in the very creation of the EU, there is an article devoted to their importance141. The exact text of the ‘Article 138A’ is: Political parties at European level are important as a factor for integration within the Union. They contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the political will of the citizens of the Union142.

This did not only give political parties relevance in EU matters but also another cleavage in the domestic arena, and a possible intra and inter-party competition area143 which broadened their roles and with it their importance grew.

Their first classical role is associated with representation144. This role stands for mobilization of citizenry in the polity they compete in145. Their second classical role is associated with representation and the articulation and aggregation of social and political interests within the society146. Their third role is a combination of a representative and a procedural role: formation of public policy147. Their fourth role concerns itself with the recruitment of political

136Katz, R. S., & Crotty, W. J. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of party politics. London: SAGE: 8. 137Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: Preface. 138 Ibid. 139 Ibid. 140 Ibid. 141Ladrech, Robert, 1995: Problems and prospects for party politics at the European level: the case of Socialist transnational party development, Paper presented to the Fourth Biennial European Community Studies Association Conference, May 11-14, 1995, Charleston, SC USA: 8. 142 European Union, Treaty on European Union (Consolidated Version), Treaty of Maastricht, 7 February 1992. Available at: http://europa.eu/eu-law/decision- making/treaties/pdf/treaty_on_european_union/treaty_on_european_union_en.pdf [Accessed March 25th 2016] 143Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: Preface. 144Mair, P. (2003). Political Parties and Democracy: What Sort of Future? Central European Political Science Review, 4 (13): 7. 145 Ibid. 146 Ibid. 147 Ibid: 8. 19

leaders and the staffing of public offices. Therefore this role is more procedural148. The fifth is again primarily procedural. It involves the role accorded to parties in organizing parliament and government, which is in fact their most important function, especially in parliamentary democracies, where governments are formed or supported out of parties149.

In liberal democracies, as the representatives of the people are the ones who rule and not the people themselves150, parties have to link the represented ones with their chosen representatives151. They also have to compete for votes which leaves them continuously pressured to adjust their needs and values of publics and societies152. This requires them to be innovative and to settle into a division of labour between themselves. This is why it is common for some to be the governing parties and some to be the opposition153.

From their roles it is clear that they are complex154. Yet, there is one defining feature that sets them off from others: they exist to influence the overall formation of public policy155. If their focus laid just on specific spheres156, they would be no different from interest groups and were their goals concerned only with particular policies, rather than shaping general rules and laws, they would be no different from private organizations like companies157. It is for this reason that parties are often characterized by some overall set of attitudes, or ideology about the manner in which societies ought to be governed158.

In the end, the keywords that remain are: representatives, mediators, elections and power. All of the keywords are intertwined and all of them can be applied on parties in EU member states, as all EU member states are democracies and most are parliamentary democracies run by party politicians, as all three EU branches of political leadership – the Commission, Council of the EU and the European Council – are predominantly recruited from political parties159. Logically, this means that all national governing parties are automatically drawn

148Mair, P. (2003). Political Parties and Democracy: What Sort of Future? Central European Political Science Review, 4 (13): 8. 149 Ibid: 9. 150Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 7. 151 Ibid. 152 Ibid. 153 Ibid. 154 Ibid: 22. 155 Ibid: 10. 156Hofmeister, W., & Grabow, K. (2011). Political parties: Functions and organisation in democratic societies. Singapore. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: 64. 157Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 10. 158 Ibid. 159 Ibid: 1. 20

into EU management, since it is made out of national representatives. It as well means that parliamentary parties are involved both in the work of national as well as European institutions, because EU membership compels them to160. Besides institutional work, there is the challenge of EP elections as well, since every five years parties have to be able to organize and compete in elections161.

Nonetheless, parties are neglected elements in linking the European and the national political system, which is even more reason to continue researching them162, especially if one knows that parties are the ones determining ministerial positions, European Commission posts and seats both in the national and the EP163. This power and importance they have furthermore increases when it comes to the management of democracy164.

In the EU, historically, parties existing today, developed from political parties that emerged least discredited from the Second World War165. Those who had been most close to resistance movements were often most keen on the idea of future integration166. Across the original Six167, Liberals and Radicals were largely favourable and similar attitude towards European integration was in itself a justification for the party families of Western Europe to meet, exchange views and coordinate future action168. Until the end of 1970s these meetings with transnational federations was usually left to relatively marginal officials, or treated as an excuse for occasional political tourism, but the situation changed with the first EP elections in 1979169. A combination of directly elected EP, its empowerment by the SEA and the Maastricht Treaty together with the curtailment of the national veto of the Council has meant that parties that are good at organizing themselves transnationally will receive certain pay-offs that may be denied to others170.

160Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London:: 2 – 6. 161 Ibid. 162 Ibid: 2 – 6. 163 Ibid: 22. 164Mair, P. (2003). Political Parties and Democracy: What Sort of Future? Central European Political Science Review, 4 (13): 7. 165Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 11. 166 Ibid. 167 The original Six, or as some authors address them as the Inner Six, or just the Six, refers to Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany. Available at: http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/1945-1959/index_en.htm [Accessed on April 1st 2016] 168Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 11. 169 Ibid: 12 – 13. 170 Ibid. 21

Still, with the increase of transnational party activity, the national foundation of party politics did not go missing, which is evident from the fact that national parties monopolized the European level activities for elite party figures and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)171.

In order to successfully balance transnational and national party activity, parties had to adjust their organizational structures. Even though there is no unique pattern of party organization, in some states there are laws on party organizational structures and generally most political party organizational structures follow administrative divisions of states, so they have local organisations, regional organisations, and finally a national organisation172. Sometimes they have a functional internal division as well, with structures similar to a state: an intra-party tribunal (judiciary), a general assembly (legislature) and a body which serves the purpose of the party’s executive (executive role)173.

In almost every EU member state, there is a similar internal organizational structure in national parties174. At the leadership level there is a usual divide into three groups: party elites that hold government office, parliamentary elites made out of representatives chosen to the national parliament and elites that do not have any national level office175. There is also a threefold political party divide called the ‘three faces’ of organizational structures176. On the national level, the ‘three faces’ are: the party on the ground – party members and loyal voters, the party in central office – party representatives on the ground and the party in public office – party representatives in government and parliament177. The most senior figure in each national organization is logically the national party leader178.

Commissioners – elites without national level political offices, are nominated to the European level by member states governments, and of course their Commissioners position depends on the support of their national party leadership179. MEPs also fall into this category180.

171Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 14 – 15. 172Hofmeister, W., & Grabow, K. (2011). Political parties: Functions and organisation in democratic societies. Singapore. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: 27. 173 Ibid. 174Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 58. 175 Ibid. 176Mair, P., & Katz, R. (1993). The Evolution of Party Organizations in Europe: Three Faces of Party organization. American Review of Politics, 14. 177Katz, R. S., & Mair, P. (Eds.). (1994). How parties organize: Change and adaption in party organizations in Western democracies. London: SAGE: 4. 178Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 59. 179 Ibid. 180 Ibid: 58 – 60. 22

Political parties can increase their importance with their ability to organize and link their activities on the national and the European level181, which can make them achieve electoral success and policy implementation on both levels182. Achieving success on the domestic level is clear but on the European level, it is trickier, since there are two party organizational structures on the European level183.

The first are European Parliament party groups and the second are Europarties, formed in the run-up to the first direct EP elections184. These two organizational structures are also called ‘two faces’ of organizational structures and they represent only European level organizational structures185. Compared to the domestic level, the ‘two faces’ are underdeveloped and domestic political parties are still the key actors in the European level186.

Lately, there is a growing cohesion between EP party groups and MEPs, due to resources of the EU being controlled by the EP parties, which encourages MEPs to toe the party line187. With time MEPs have learned that the role they play in the EP is dependent upon their EP party groups, similarly as on the domestic level188. This does not necessarily mean that MEPs will always vote as their EP parties’ want189, but overall this means that domestic political party influence might be reduced as time passes and that domestic political parties might not always be key actors in the European level.

3. 3. Europeanization of political parties conceptually This chapter is entirely devoted to building a theoretical framework for political party Europeanization and it addresses political party Europeanization conceptually, while the following chapter does the same methodologically.

The research framework was almost entirely built by Ladrech and his associates. There is little mention of political parties in Europeanization literature, which should not be the case since parties are active actors in the integration process190. Work done before focused only on EP party groups and Europarties, ignoring that parties are as well affected by European

181Hix, S. & Lord, C. (1997): Political Parties in the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, London: 55. 182Hix, S. (2005). The Political System of the European Union (Second Edition). Palgrave Macmillan: 180. 183 Ibid: 186. 184 Ibid: 180. 185Fink - Hafner, D. (2007). Stranački sustav na razini Europske Unije. Politička misao, XLIV (3): 3 – 4. 186 Ibid. 187Hix, S. (2005). The Political System of the European Union (Second Edition). Palgrave Macmillan: 189. 188 Ibid: 190. 189 Ibid. 190Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 1. 23

integration191. Parties define their interests and their goals according to a given setting192, a setting greatly affected by the EU. Their operating environments – national political systems, have been transformed by the development and the impact of EU policy-making193. There is therefore a connection between national political systems, national parties and EU integration. Ladrech incorporated the impact of the EU on national political systems and by extension on the behavior, internal and external, of political parties194. The view that not only political systems are affected, but parties too, was advanced and it became possible to analyze them.

To be able to do that one needs to employ a working definition of Europeanization first195, second, link Europeanization with political party activity, third – consider Europeanization of political parties by evaluating the potential impact upon the function of parties, and then consider innovative responses, or empirical evidences of change by parties196.

The first step, finding a working definition was already established in the previous chapter.

Second comes linking Europeanization with party activity and evaluating the potential impact upon parties, by considering responses in parties or empirical evidences of change. But since considering empirical evidences would rather fit into political party Europeanization methodologically, it follows in the next chapter.

All the same, before advancing, one has to be made familiar with developments that led to the establishment of party Europeanization conceptually. The concept developed along with European integration and with the direct elections to EP197. As a separate research area, it emerged only recently though198, due to the fact that party analysis has focused overwhelmingly on political systems199 and due to Europeanization initially being defined as the impact of integration on politics and policies of nation-states200. Political party analysts did not focus their research on factors for explanations of domestic party change or related

191Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 1. 192Lefkofridi, Zoe. (2008) "An Integrated Model of National Party Response to European Integration". IHS Political Science Series: No. 115, 05/2008 Working Paper: 3. 193Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 2. 194 Ibid. 195 Ibid: 1. 196 Ibid: 2. 197Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 4. 198 Ibid. 199 Ibid. 200Van Hecke, S. (2010). ‘Do Transnational Party Federations Matter? (… Why Should We Care?)’, Journal of Contemporary European Research. Volume 6, Issue 3: 396. 24

electoral developments201. Only when a turn in comparative politics happened and when integration started to be used as explanation of domestic political change, did party Europeanization emerge202.

Historically, these developments are usually divided into two periods203. First was the period of national parties’ positions on European integration and developments at the European level, which is mostly but not exclusively involved with party groups and elections to the EP and less so with the development of Europarties204. It is a period mostly characterized by the first elections to the EP and advances in the EU political system itself205. With a directly elected EP, a re-vitalization for political parties’ research happened206.

Second was the period from 1979 onwards, again connected with the first direct EP elections, made more interesting with the emergence of SEA and with the ‘relaunch’ of the integration process207. Maastricht treaty208 followed, and together with SEA209 and the Amsterdam treaty210 made the EP a veto player, made it stronger vis-à-vis the Commission, with power to confirm an incoming Commission, and also made it able to vet the President of the Commission and subject individual commissioner-candidates to parliamentary hearings211.

After the second period, the study of parties evolved into a significant subfield in political party research212 that emerged as a consequence of continual EU empowerment which started to be visible in domestic political systems, illustrated by changes in institutions, policies or

201Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 4. 202 Ibid. 203 Ibid. 204 Ibid. 205 Ibid. 206Poguntke, T. (2008), ‘Party Government in the EU: On the Road to Presidentialization?’, European University Institute, Florence/Italy, Working paper SPS Nr. 10: 1 – 2. 207 Ibid. 208 The Maastricht treaty established the co-decision procedure, which makes legislation subject to a third reading by the EP before it can be adopted by the Council, which allows the EP to prevent legislation from being adopted should an absolute majority of its members oppose it. In: Poguntke, T., Aylott, N., Carter, E., Ladrech, R., & Luther, K. (Eds.). (2007). The Europeanization of National Political Parties, Power and Organizational Adaptation. Abingdon: Routledge: 6 – 7. 209 SEA brought with it the cooperation procedure which gave the EP the right to a second reading over certain legislature. In: Poguntke, T., Aylott, N., Carter, E., Ladrech, R., & Luther, K. (Eds.). (2007). Europeisation of National Political Parties, Power and Organizational Adaptation. Abingdon: Routledge: 6 – 7. 210 The Amsterdam Treaty further extended and made more effective the use of co-decision for the European Parliament. Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/20150201PVL00004/Legislative- powers [Accessed June 7th 2016] 211Poguntke, T., Aylott, N., Carter, E., Ladrech, R., & Luther, K. (Eds.). (2007). The Europeanization of National Political Parties, Power and Organizational Adaptation. Abingdon: Routledge: 6. 212Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 5. 25

politics213. This brought with itself the emergence of party Europeanization as well214, but at first it was difficult for parties to find their way ‘in’, because unlike interest groups, they are very limited in their ability to develop privileged relationships with EU actors215.

There is little if anything in the way of EU resources that can be translated into a positive gain for political parties216. Funding of parties at the European level is not allowed in any way, which is incorporated in the Treaty of Nice217. Another not so obvious difficulty is that to identify party Europeanization is much more difficult than to identify Europeanization elsewhere, since parties are bereft of direct influence from the EU level218. Simply said, the EU does not ‘hit’ parties in a direct manner and the impact of the EU is by definition indirect219. There are no resources that can be transferred from the EU, nor are there allies that could be useful for domestic gain, nor are parties legally obliged to interact or operate at the EU level220.

Here is where the Europeanization domain politics is really set apart from the domains polity and policy due to absence of a direct relationship between EU legislative and actors221, as well as domestic political systems in relation to domestic parties. Even though they are close they have to be methodologically kept distinct, both in standard party research as well as in Europeanization research222. On the other hand, in the case of party Europeanization in parties in post-communist member states223 the politics domain differs from the general Europeanization research, as it is less set apart from polity and policy. These parties and their experience with the EU has been different than the experience of political parties in older EU

213Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 1. 214Ladrech, R. (2012). Causality and Mechanisms of Change in Party Europeanization Research. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU). Working paper 36. Keele University: 3. 215Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 7. 216 Ibid. 217Available in detail at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com(2012)0499_/com_com(2012)04 99_en.pdf [Accessed June 10th 2016] 218Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 8. 219Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 7. 220 Ibid. 221Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 131. 222Ladrech, R. (2012). Causality and Mechanisms of Change in Party Europeanization Research. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU). Working paper 36. Keele University: 3. 223Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 6. 26

member states – the ones without a communist past224. This comes as no surprise, since post- communist states and parties were much concerned with the question of democratization, instilling of EU norms and party development deriving from EU political conditionality and the specific role of transnational party co-operation225. The relationship between the EU and these parties was asymmetrical and post-communist parties went through a serious and extensive party transformation during the 1990s226. Reaching EU membership was eventually the goal for post-communist states so everything they did and all change they introduced might be seen as Europeanization227. A lot of change they introduced occurred before the actual membership, so it is very much different than in older member states which changed along the way with integration228.

Best example of underwent transformations is the Copenhagen criteria229, which older member states did not go through and the relationship post-communist parties developed with Europarties. Europarties, in particular PES and EPP, contributed significantly to the development of parties in post-communist states230. The Copenhagen criteria is by some “the most massive international rule transfer in recent history”, and as it did not go gradually with the integration process, it produced the mentioned asymmetry between the EU and post- communist states231.

From all, it would appear that parties are not ideal candidates for the Europeanization research agenda, due to their ‘insularity’ from EU influence232. Nonetheless, there is empirical evidence that national political parties have indeed experienced changes233, even though in an

224Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 10. 225 Ibid. 226Klepač Pogrmilović, B. (2010). Europeanization of Croatian Political Parties. Politička misao, 47 (5): 103. 227Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 38. 228 Ibid. 229 Ibid. The Copenhagen criteria was introduced for 2004 accession countries and later for Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. It requires: (1) stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; (2) a functioning market economy and the ability to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU; (3) the ability to take on the obligations of membership, including the capacity to effectively implement the rules, standards and policies that make up the body of EU law (the 'acquis'), and adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union. Available at: http://eur- lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/accession_criteria_copenhague.html [Accessed April 7th 2016] 230Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 140. 231Coman, R. (2013). Mechanisms of Europeanisation and Compliance in Judicial Politics: Understanding the Past and Anticipating the Future. Polish Political Science Review, 1(1): 64 – 65. 232Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 7. 233 Ibid. 27

indirect manner and difficult to trace. What is actually difficult to trace is something already addressed in the beginning of the chapter as the link between Europeanization and party activity, found in responses or empirical evidences of change. As tracing the link falls into party Europeanization methodologically, more explanation comes, right after explaining conceptually how to determine relevant political parties, since to be able to research party Europeanization, one first needs to know which parties to even look into.

3.3.1. Relevant political parties Not all political parties are equally relevant and counting all of them makes no sense because not all of them have national or regional significance234. After all, all countries keep track of them so counting them would be easy, but the problem is in determining which ones ‘count’ as relevant ones235. Here, Sartori offers some criteria to help. The number of political parties has to be connected with the power that a party exercises, he says236.

By power he means the electoral strength a political party possesses as votes eventually become mandates, and mandates are best evidence of parliamentary relevance. Therefore, the first determinant is to look at the number of mandates237. After this electoral strength determinant, there are two more criterions of relevance: a party either must have ‘coalition potential’ or ‘blackmail potential’238.

With coalition potential, already established coalitions that were or are consonant and sustainable over time are looked at239. If a party becomes superfluous with time, it is than irrelevant. On the contrary if a party becomes necessary for sustaining a coalition or determines the outcome of majority rule, it as relevant240. Two more components follow this criterion: government potential and actual governmental relevance241.

Government potential is applicable to every party that acquires access for bargaining and is a potential coalition partner for already established parties242. The second component, actual

234Pettitt, R. T. (2014). Contemporary party politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London: 27. 235 Ibid. 236Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 111. 237 Ibid. 238 Ibid. 239 Ibid. 240 Ibid. 241 Ibid: 259. 242Deschouwer, K. (Ed.). (2008). New parties in government: In power for the first time. London: Routledge: 26 – 27. 28

governmental relevance, is applicable to every party that actually governs, forms government or has supported the current government during the vote of confidence which ensured the governing party or a coalition government formation243. The core difference is that the first is assigned by others, while the second directly comes from a party’s properties244 and the party in question has an active role in government formation. These components make possible to eliminate all parties that did not make it into the legislature body and all parties whose vote was unnecessary for the majority, no matter how they voted245. Even a single convocation of a legislature body is enough for evaluation.

The second – blackmail potential, complements the first criterion if necessary. It is related to the fact that there are some parties which, while big enough to secure a majority, are never asked to participate and are excluded by others246. Even though this party is ignored by other political parties, its very existence affects the tactics of other political parties, because other parties change their tactics to exclude this party247.

In the end, it should be noted that using this criteria in determining a political party’s relevance is only postdictive, because it would make no sense to use it as predictive248. This means that parliamentary mandates that have ended are looked into, because it is impossible to know with certainty what will happen with current convocations.

243 Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 260. 244Deschouwer, K. (Ed.). (2008). New parties in government: In power for the first time. London: Routledge: 25. 245Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 260. 246Pettitt, R. T. (2014). Contemporary party politics. Palgrave Macmillan: 27. 247 Ibid. 248Sartori, G. (2002). Stranke i stranač ki sustavi (V. Mirković-Blaž ević & V. Tomić, Trans.; M. Kasapović, Ed.). Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 113. 29

4. Europeanization of political parties methodologically

After establishing a working Europeanization definition, next is linking it with political parties and considering party responses or empirical evidences of change249. This linkage is difficult to establish, due to parties being influenced indirectly, but there are evidences that party Europeanization happens in several dimensions250. To find these evidences easier, Ladrech’s suggested five areas of investigating party Europeanization, which are: I. Analyzing the policy or programmatic content of political parties; II. Analyzing organizational structures in statutory content or organizational changes in practices and power relations; III. Analyzing patterns of party competition; IV. Analyzing party – government relations and V. Analyzing relations of the political party beyond the national party system251.

With these five areas a methodological framework for party Europeanization analysis was set. Following suggested areas, political scientists interested in party Europeanization further provided empirical proof for advancement in the field, giving more perspective and enriching the literature252. Some of them also followed Sartori’s criteria253.

In the first area policy or programmatic content of parties is investigated. Here types of evidence can be found due to modifications in party programmes254. Change can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively255. Quantitatively, an increase in the mentioning of the EU, European policies or similar can be measured256. Qualitatively, references to the EU in the pursuit of policies traditionally considered domestic, for example employment, can be measured257. Additionally, references to Europarty affiliations and European level institutions

249Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 2. 250Robert Ladrech “Europeanization and political parties”, Living Reviews in European Governance, Vol. 4, (2009), No. 1: 7. 251Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 8. 252Charalambous, G. (2011). Bringing Instrumentality In: A Theoretical Case for the Role of Transnational Affiliations in Party-based Europeanisation. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 7 (3): 310. 253 Authors who have relied both upon Ladrech and Sartori in their party Europeanization research are: Poguntke, Aylott, Carter, and Luther, furthermore Carter and Poguntke in a second study of theirs, Hloušek and Pšeja, and possibly others as well. 254Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 8. 255 Ibid. 256 Ibid. 257 Ibid. 30

may be made more explicit258. Usual examples are that PES has appeared more regularly in the French Socialist Parties’ programmes as a reference of strengthening the transnational party cooperation259. There are as well evidences of a modest rise in references to the EU in in party manifestos and some parties devoted a section to their EU membership260. Specific attention to EU policies or institutional reform, in the form of change proposals is present as well as EU antagonism as a central feature of parties’ programmatic profile in Eurosceptic parties261.

Studies done in this area are for example by Klepač Pogrmilović and Vučković. Klepač Pogrmilović investigated programmatic content of five Croatian political parties in the pre- accession stage. She chose a qualitative content analysis for investigating the programmatic content of parties262, as well did Vučković with relevant Montenegrin political parties and their election manifestos between the 2009 and 2012 parliamentary elections263.

In the second area of investigation, which is the area of this thesis’ research, organizational structures are investigated, either as statutory adjustments in parties, or change in practices and power relations264. Adjustments come as a consequence of affiliations with European level institutions for instance, which have generated some organizational modifications265. It can also be the case that internal party rules and statutes get adjusted, regarding the role and influence of the delegation to the EP, so they get featured in party bodies, which again may reflect the greater profile of European policy, and the leadership’s need to manage it more closely266. Organizational links with actors outside national territory, may stimulate organizational innovation and they can also start referring to their Europarty affiliations in their statutes267.

258Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 8. 259 Ibid. 260Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 135. 261 Ibid. 262Klepač Pogrmilović, B. (2010). Europeanization of Croatian Political Parties. Politička misao, 47 (5), 96 – 116. 263Vučković, V. (2016, September). The Europeanization of Political Parties in Montenegro. Romanian Journal of European Affairs, 16 (3), 36-55. 264Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 9. 265 Ibid. 266 Ibid. 267 Ibid. 31

Besides statutory adjustments other organizational changes can happen as well, because internal party organizational activities can be affected268. National parties’ government officials and officials that have EU governance roles, due to their link between the national and EU system of governance, can cause internal domestic party strains of relations269. It is presumed that the disbalance will occur in favor of party elites or EU specialists270. With time their positions will allow them to gain formal competences and de facto freedom of maneuver and access to resources. All of this, eventually gives them leverage in internal party events271, and affects organizational structures. For this disbalance to happen some formal adjustments have to be made first, for instance, statutory adjustments. This is why if someone wants to pursue further research in this part, it is good to do a statutory analysis first.

A study by Carter et al. is an example of research in this area. They investigated formal and informal adjustments. Formal adjustments were drawn out of party statutes and informal adjustments were questioned from 150 extensive semi-structured interviews with party elite and EU specialists272. Both data was collected in an in-depth qualitative country study. Six different countries were chosen, according to the logic of ‘most different system design’. Political parties under investigation were chosen according to Sartori’s ‘relevance’ criteria.

In the third area of investigating party Europeanization patterns of political party competition are observed through political parties’ tactics and strategies, because it is assumed that the EU became politicized in national politics, and this accounts for new voters being targeted in an opportunistic strategy, either in a pro- or anti- EU position273. If there is a strong anti-EU stance, parties that are Eurosceptic can profit274. Eurosceptic parties can profit from it on the EU level also, as they might not be able to get votes they need to be domestic parliamentary parties or force the main parties out of government, but can on the other hand influence referendums and do better in EP elections275. Such ‘profitization’ on EP elections can be found all around EU where parties build their EP campaigns on

268Poguntke, Thomas, Nicholas Aylott, Robert Ladrech and Kurt Richard Luther (2007), The Europeanization of National Party Organizations: A Conceptual Analysis, European Journal of Political Research, 46 (6): 747. 269 Ibid. 270 Ibid: 747, 766. 271Poguntke, T., Aylott, N., Carter, E., Ladrech, R., & Luther, K. (Eds.). (2007). The Europeanization of National Political Parties, Power and Organizational Adaptation. Abingdon: Routledge: 10. 272 Ibid: 1. 273Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 10. 274 Ibid. 275Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 137. 32

Euroscepticism and get MEPs for it. Few examples are: the British UKIP, France’s National Front, Greece’s Golden Dawn276 and even Croatia’s MEP Ruža Tomašić, who has Euroscepticism listed as one of parties’ ideologies277.

Deželan’s study of Slovenian political parties during 2004 EP elections is an example where this third area was employed. Data was collected through interviews, a month before the elections, a week before elections, and a week after the elections. Additionally a comparative analysis of the interviews was done278.

In the fourth area party - government relations are investigated279. As the EU is led by party politicians and they occupy all leading functions, it is said that participation of government leaders in EU forums may strain relations with the party-at-home280. Intergovernmental bargaining may distance the government or a party leader from party programmatic positions in an unintended fashion281. This may set into motion qualitative changes in the nature of party - government relations over time282. What can also occur is that a government is ‘pulled’ by party to minimalize positions on institutional change, for example deeper integration283. This stance may not necessarily represent EU hostility, but may signal a preference towards retention of domestic control over areas which involve benefits accruing to a certain party284.

In 2012, Örmeci incorporated this area in his study of the Turkish Justice and Development Party in the period from 2002 to 2007 and concluded that indeed party - government relations changed in a ‘push-pull manner’ judging by introduced policies at time285. Eventually a distance between the government and ‘party followers’ happened, but also a distance between the government and fellows inside the party286.

276 Available at: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament-2015/foreign- affairs/european-parliament/ [Accessed April 7th 2016] 277 Available at: http://konzervativci.hr/ [Accessed April 7th 2016] 278Deželan, T. (2007). Does Europeanisation matter? The Case of Slovenian Political Party Electoral Campaign for the European Union. Politics in Central Europe, 3(1+2). 279Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 10. 280 Ibid. 281 Ibid. 282 Ibid: 11. 283 Ibid. 284 Ibid: 10. 285Örmeci, O. (2012). The Impact of Europeanization on Turkish Political Party System: Justice and Development Party (2002-2007). International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(18), 205 – 212. 286 Ibid: 211. 33

Last, in the fifth area relations beyond the national party system are investigated287. Europeanization may result in new transnational co-operation with parties from other EU member states and with joining Europarties, to the extent that new organizational and programmatic activities are promoted288. So far, PES and EPP are furthest along in the cooperation stage, with a permanent organization and frequent and prepared interactions289.

Examples of such studies are ones by Öhlén Mats290 and von dem Berge and Poguntke291. Both analyzed the influence of Europarties on Central and Eastern European party affiliations. The difference is that Öhlén built upon Ladrech’s framework, while von dem Berge and Poguntke built their own. Öhlén examined party Europeanization through the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) whereas von dem Berge and Poguntke looked for empirical evidence in archives of the EPP and the PES.

The process of responses by political parties, manifested in one of the areas of investigation is labeled party Europeanization292. How parties respond can be traced in a fivefold manner, whereas this thesis relies methodologically on the second area. The reason why the second area was chosen is due to the fact that party statues have not been under investigation in Croatia in this millennium and especially not in the Europeanization context. Also, all parties in Croatia are required by law293 to have party statutes, which made them easier to acquire than party programmes which sadly were not available for all of the relevant parties, even though the law requires them too.

287Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 11. 288 Ibid. 289 Ibid: 12. 290Ö hlén, M. (2013). The eastward enlargement of European parties: Party adaptation in the light of EU- enlargement. Ö rebro: Ö rebro universitet. 291Berge, B. V., & Poguntke, T. (2012). The influence of Europarties on Central and Eastern European partner parties: A theoretical and analytical model. European Political Science Review. 292Ladrech, R. (2001). Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis. Keele European Parties Research Unit (KEPRU) Working paper 07/ 2001: 13. 293 Available at: http://www.zakon.hr/z/549/Zakon-o-politi%C4%8Dkim-strankama [Accessed June 11th 2016] 34

4.1. Relevant political parties in Croatia It is not a problem to count all political parties but the problem is in determining which ones ‘count’294, since there are currently 297 registered political parties in the Republic of Croatia295. So, in order to know which ones count, the following methods were applied:

a) Sartori’s criteria for establishing relevant political parties; b) Parliamentary presence of a certain political party and c) A temporal criterion from 2000 up until 2015.

After applying them it turns out that currently there are five political parties that can be taken into consideration out of almost 300. Ten years ago, seven were considered relevant (HDZ, SDP, HSS, HNS, IDS, HSLS and DC296), but since then two of them lost parliamentary presence. This means that parties currently left are: HDZ, SDP, HSS, HNS and IDS and all five of them have been subjected to testing.

Sartori’s criteria of coalition, presence in parliamentary convocations and looking into parties postdictive matches these five. All have formed government or a governing coalition in the parliamentary convocations after a multi-party system was introduced in Croatia and all five of them have been actively involved in Croatian EU integration, which stems from their involvement in the Croatian parliament or government or elsewhere. All five kept their parliamentary presence from the Croatian parliamentary convocation of 2000 up until the end of the 2015. As a matter of a fact, they still do297, but that would be predictive.

In the 2000–2015 period, all five, besides maintaining parliamentary presence, maintained their electoral strength also. This can be seen both through their 15 yearlong endurance in Parliament as well as from the number of mandates. Their continuity is best seen through another method which served a purpose of an additional confirmation of relevance, indicating again the same. It is the method of calculating effective political parties which arose from the same need to confirm their relevance298. With the method of calculating effective parties a

294Pettitt, R. T. (2014). Contemporary party politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London: 27. 295Central government portal of open data of the Republic of Croatia. Available at: http://data.gov.hr/dataset/registar-politickih-stranaka-republike-hrvatske [Accessed May 4th 2016] Direct link for downloading the Catalogue of registered political parties in the Republic of Croatia: https://uprava.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Pristup_otv_pod//politicke_stranke.csv [Accessed May 4th 2016] 296Milardović, A., Lalić, D., & Malenica, Z. (2007). Kriza i transformacija politič kih stranaka. Zagreb: CIP: 23. 297 At the beginning of writing the Croatian Parliament was in its 8th convocation until June of 2016. At that point HDZ held 49, SPD 42, HNS 9, IDS 3 and HSS held 2 mandates. Currently in the 9th convocation, HDZ holds 56, SDP 38, HNS 9, IDS 3 and HSS holds 5 mandates. Available at: http://www.sabor.hr/zastupnici and http://www.sabor.hr/zastupnici-8-saziva-sabora [Accessed November 25th 2016] 298Kasapović, M. (2003). Izborni leksikon. Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 119. 35

clear tabular overview was achieved and it gives proof of: a) Sartori’s criteria, b) parliamentary presence and c) the temporal criterion.

The tabular overview is featured in the Annex and its importance is in showing the number of possessed mandates, pointing directly to Sartori’s criteria. If mandates were won throughout the 2000–2015 period it also shows parliamentary presence and the temporal criterion. In the end, the table again indicates the same result.

Three out of them five have been founded in the beginning of the 1990’s299. Only HSS and SDP have a longer political history. HSS considers their founding moment to date all the way back to 1904300 and SDP is the successor party of the Communist Party of Croatia301.

In terms of political power, HDZ was the party that won the first Croatian parliamentary elections with an overwhelming victory302. After that, for almost a decade, they dominated the political life, until the 2000 elections when they were defeated by the coalition SDP-HSLS- HSS-HNS-IDS303. After a long time another political party took over in power. It was SDP together with HSLS, later forming a post-election coalition with HSS-HNS-LS-IDS304. This was also the first coalition government in Croatian political history305. In 2003 and 2007 elections HDZ won again306. In 2011, the coalition SDP-HNS-IDS-HSU won307, as part of the so called Kukuriku koalicija308.

From all, it is indicative that previous governments were coalition governments, with the exception of the 2003 one which was a HDZ majority government309. Else, HNS never won

299 HDZ was founded in 1989, and HNS was founded in the beginning of 1990 as well as IDS. Available at: http://www.hdz.hr/mi-smo/povijest [Accessed May 25th 2016] Stallaerts, R. (2010). Historical dictionary of Croatia. Scarecrow Press: 255. http://www.ids-ddi.com/ids-ddi/povijest/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] 300 Available at: http://www.hss.hr/o-nama/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] 301Stallaerts, R. (2010). Historical dictionary of Croatia. Scarecrow Press: 296. 302 Ibid: 62. 303 Available at: https://vlada.gov.hr/prethodne-vlade-11348/11348 [Accessed on May 25th 2016] 304Bali, M., & Podolnjak, R. (2009). Utjecaj izbornog sustava na oblikovanje stranačkog sustava i Vlade u Republici Hrvatskoj 1990-2007. Pravnik, 43 (87): 52. 305 Ibid: 53. 306 Available at: https://vlada.gov.hr/prethodne-vlade-11348/11348 [Accessed on May 25th 2016] 307 Ibid. 308 Kukuriku coalition – coalition formed by SDP, HNS, IDS and HSU. The coalition does not exist anymore, because it grew into Hrvatska raste coalition, made out of SDP, HNS, HSU, Laburisti (Labour Party), A-HSS (The Authentic Croatian Peasant Party), and ZS (The Zagorje Party), without IDS, since they went on their own. For the early 2016 parliamentary elections, SDP, HNS, HSS and HSU formed Narodna koalicija. Available at: http://www.kukuriku.org/ and https://hrvatskaraste.org/ [Accessed on May 25th 2016] Available at: https://narodnakoalicija.hr/ [Accessed on November 25th 2016] 309Bali, M., & Podolnjak, R. (2009). Utjecaj izbornog sustava na oblikovanje stranačkog sustava i Vlade u Republici Hrvatskoj 1990-2007. Pravnik, 43 (87): 52. 36

elections on their own, but always formed coalition with SDP310. Another peculiarity is that HSS has been both part of the governing coalition in 2000 and in 2007, which is a surprise for an agrarian socially conservative political party311. It occurred again when in 2015 they formed part of the Domoljubna koalicija312 led by HDZ, but then in the early 2016 parliamentary elections went along with an SDP led coalition called Narodna koalicija313. In the end, after HDZ’s victory, during formation of government, they voted in favour of HDZ’s government formation314.

IDS is out of them the only regional party315, also in the habit of forming coalition with SDP, but since 2015 on their own316. In the early 2016 parliamentary elections, they did not form coalition with any parties mentioned so far, but with two other smaller regional parties317 and again managed to secure three parliamentary seats, allowing them to form caucus and fulfil their goal of continuous presence. For them it also has to be mentioned when discussing Croatian parties and European integration that even though they are a regionalist party, they played an important role in the early stages of Croatian party system Europeanization318. The party resisted Tuđman’s strong centralization and developed a strong pro-European stance, because it recognized regionalism and decentralization as growing aspects of the integration319.

310Stallaerts, R. (2010). Historical dictionary of Croatia. Scarecrow Press: 255. 311Bali, M., & Podolnjak, R. (2009). Utjecaj izbornog sustava na oblikovanje stranačkog sustava i Vlade u Republici Hrvatskoj 1990-2007. Pravnik, 43 (87): 52. 312 Domoljubna koalicija is a pre-election coalition formed out of eight political parties: HDZ, HSS, Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević (HSP – AS), Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), Croatian Growth, Bloc Pensioners Together, Croatian Christian Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Zagorje. Out of these eight parties only the Democratic Party of Zagorje did not receive a seat in the Croatian parliament. Available at: http://www.hdz.hr/tags/domoljubna-koalicija [Accessed May 25th 2016]. 313 Available at: http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/hss-odlucuje-s-kim-ce-koalirati-od-18-sati-sastaje-se-glavni- odbor-stranke---442622.html [Accessed November 25tth 2016] 314 Available at: http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/beljak-hss-daje-svoje-potpise-hdzu-ovo-je-kraj-mostovih- ucjena/920731.aspx [Accessed November 25tth 2016] 315Stallaerts, R. (2010). Historical dictionary of Croatia. Scarecrow Press: 176. 316 Available at: http://www.sabor.hr/zastupnici [Accessed May 25th 2016] 317 Available at: http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/parlamentarni-izbori-2016-istarski-demokratski-sabor-i- primorsko-goranski-savez---447492.html [Accessed November 25tth 2016] 318Maldini, P., & Pauković, D. (Eds.). (2015). Croatia and the European Union: Changes and development. Farnham: Ashgate: 166. 319 Ibid. 37

4.2. Qualitative content statutory analysis This chapter provides an overview of a methodological tool used in this thesis’ empirical research. The qualitative content statutory analysis served as a method of analysing indicators and characteristics of Croatian party Europeanization and therefore it needs to be briefly addressed. What is it exactly?

Qualitative content analysis is a method for systematically describing the meaning of qualitative data320. It is a widely used qualitative research technique that relies upon coding categories derived directly from textual data321. Its goal is to provide knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon under study322. It is a method all about making valid, replicable and objective inferences about the message on the basis of explicit rules from a certain type of material for the content analysis323.

Deriving from this, it had the task of systematically describing statutory material of five relevant Croatian political parties to provide knowledge about the phenomenon of Europeanization and its characteristics found in the material.

It gives interpretation of party statutes, through systematic classification with the help of coding and identifying themes or patterns324. It also helps in reducing the amount of data one is looking into, and allows focus on selected aspects of meaning, namely those aspects that relate to the research question325.

Furthermore, it is highly systematic, because it looks into every part of the material that is in any way related to the research question326, meaning it looks into entire party statutes, and not only certain articles or party sections such as organizational structures for instance. When applying this method, a coding scheme needed to be created. This construction of a coding scheme usually has six steps327. Also, in the very beginning it follows three principles of

320Flick, U. (Ed.). (2014). The SAGE handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. SAGE Publications: 170. 321Hsieh, H. (2005). Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15 (9): 1277. 322 Ibid: 1278. 323Prasad, D. B. (2008). Content analysis: A method of Social Science Research. In D. K. Las Das (Ed.), Research Methods for Social Work. New Delhi: Rawat Publications: 174. 324Hsieh, H. (2005). Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15 (9): 1278. 325Flick, U. (Ed.). (2014). The SAGE handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. SAGE Publications: 170. 326 Ibid: 171. 327Halmi, A. (2005). Strategije kvalitativnih istraž ivanja u primijenjenim druš tvenim znanostima. Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap: 386. 38

scientific method: objectivity, systematicness and generalizability328. Objectivity means that it pursues rules and that other researchers can obtain same results, systematicness means that rules are consistently applied during coding and generalizability means that obtained results can be applied to similar research as well329.

Out of six coding steps, the first step is starting with having a clear idea what is looked for in content and what kind of content it is. Since this thesis is aiming to identify party Europeanization in parties’ statutes, one will most clearly look for words, sentences, themes, patterns or ‘packages’330 that evoke Europeanization. Words and sentences that refer to the EU, European integration, and European institutions such as the EP, European party groups and Europarties are most apparent to identify and code. This is also something that is called manifest content, as it is instantly visible, leaving no doubt about the content’s properties as no synonyms are used but clear indicative terminology. A typical example would be: HNS presidency appoints election headquarters for the European Parliament elections.

A bit more difficult is to identify themes or ‘packages’ that in their core describe Europeanization but are not instantly visible. They fall into the category of latent content as synonyms or themes are used and Europeanization is burrowed. Nonetheless, since every ‘package’ has a central idea, a frame for making sense and suggesting what is at issue can be made, usually by offering a number of symbols that display the ‘package’331, or in this case a number of symbols, words, metaphors, and synonyms that display Europeanization, familiar to the coder due to party Europeanization theory. A typical example would be: Specific organizational structures of HSS are organizational structures of HSS abroad. Here, “abroad” is a synonym that might refer to the EU or HSS’s Europarty affiliation or else.

The second step is making plans for the tabulation of coded data332 out of selected communication content333 id est five relevant party statutes available in latest versions at the time of research, exactly three years after Croatian EU accession.

328Prasad, D. B. (2008). Content analysis: A method of Social Science Research. In D. K. Las Das (Ed.), Research Methods for Social Work. New Delhi: Rawat Publications: 177. 329 Ibid. 330Gamson, W. A. & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1): 3 – 4. 331 Ibid. 332Halmi, A. (2005). Strategije kvalitativnih istraž ivanja u primijenjenim druš tvenim znanostima. Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap: 386. 333Prasad, D. B. (2008). Content analysis: A method of Social Science Research. In D. K. Las Das (Ed.), Research Methods for Social Work. New Delhi: Rawat Publications: 182. 39

In step three a scheme is created to show ‘what is said’ and ‘how it is said’, where ‘what is said’ stands for the content of the message or who the actor behind the message is, in whose name is the message transmitted and also who is the message intended for334? In the case of party statutes, obviously the party whose statute it is, is the actor behind the message, the message is transmitted in their name and is intended for voters. ‘How it is said’ stands for the form of communication335, which is in this case written and formal.

During step four, categories are formed, based on already established theory. It is usual that several categories are formed before finalizing a set of categories336, and some get eliminated in the end, which was also the case in this thesis’ research as presented later on.

In the fifth phase, units of analysis are formed and most common units of analysis are: 1) a single word, 2) themes presented in a single claim and 3) the smallest segment of content necessary for expressing a certain characteristic337. Typical examples found during empirical research are for example: “European” for a single word, whereas a sentence “HDZ is a European political party because it accepts European standards and sees the future of Croatia in Europe” presents an entire theme related to Europeanization in a single claim. Last, an example of a smallest segment of content necessary for expressing a certain characteristic is: “HDZ acts abroad” as it is only a three-word sentence with only one word used as a synonym that can express an entire Europeanization related theme behind this small segment of content.

In the last sixth phase, coding is practiced and if necessary modifications of the constructed draft are made338. Coding can further be expanded with initial open coding, comparison and differentiation339. Open coding can identify new categories besides the apparent manifest categories and after listing new categories, they can be compared and differentiated in all the statutes, as was also the case with this thesis’ research.

In the end before actual analysis and before evidence of coding is revealed, it is good to remind that:

334Halmi, A. (2005). Strategije kvalitativnih istraž ivanja u primijenjenim druš tvenim znanostima. Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap: 387. 335 Ibid: 386. 336Prasad, D. B. (2008). Content analysis: A method of Social Science Research. In D. K. Las Das (Ed.), Research Methods for Social Work. New Delhi: Rawat Publications: 185. 337Halmi, A. (2005). Strategije kvalitativnih istraž ivanja u primijenjenim druš tvenim znanostima. Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap: 388. 338 Ibid. 339 Ibid: 379. 40

Member state governments are ‘party governments’ and as such we cannot ignore the centrality of political parties in the context of Europeanization and political change. Political parties are instrumental actors of both the domestic and the European level, and it is impossible that they themselves have not experienced some degree of change340.

Whether Croatian political parties have indeed in their party statutes experienced Europeanization, in of so – in what way, will be presented in the following chapter.

5. Empirical results of Croatian party Europeanization

Based on qualitative content analysis coding criteria, transcribed statutory material under investigation regards those words, sentences, passages and context units related to the research topic. Found statutory material related to the research topic and the entire transcription considered party statute Europeanization evidence was translated from Croatian to English by the author of the thesis herself, as all party statutes are only available in Croatian language. Both can be found in the thesis, the original text in Croatian referenced in footnotes subsequent to the English translation in the text. In the general table found on the upcoming page, a coding scheme created for the purposes of analysis can be seen, containing all categories, open and predefined ones, as well as properties attributed to the categories, manifest and latent ones.

Initially the general table containing predefined categories was bigger and contained categories such as “Terminology related to the EU accession”, but since no evidence belonging there was found it became needless and redundant. Even some subcategories, such as “European Commission” under the category “European level structures of governance (EU institutions)”, lost their place and were placed under the subcategory called “Other EU institutions” since it is a broad enough. Furthermore, in the case of the category “European level structures of governance (EU institutions)” only subcategories “MEP’s” and “European Parliament” kept their place separately due to found evidence of these subcategories.

340Ladrech, R. (2010). Europeanization and national politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 128. 41

PREDEFINED CATEGORIES BASED ON THEORY PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY (deductively formulated categories)

A: Reference to the EU and its membership or / and European integration Manifest To directly refer to the European Union and its membership A1: European Union and EU membership reference Latent To indirectly refer to the European Union and its membership A2: European integration reference Manifest To directly refer to European integration Latent To indirectly refer to European integration B: European level structures of governance (European Union institutions) Manifest Direct reference to the European structures of governance Latent Indirect reference to the European structures of governance B1: European Parliament Manifest Direct reference to the European Parliament Latent Indirect reference to the European Parliament B2: MEP's Manifest Direct reference to an MEP position Latent Indirect reference to an MEP position B3: Other EU institutions (European Council, European Commission, Council of the European Union etc.) Manifest Direct reference to other EU institutions Latent Indirect reference to other EU institutions C: European Parliament elections Manifest Direct reference to the elections for European Parliament Latent Indirect reference to the elections for European Parliament D: Europarties or / and other transnational (European) party cooperation D1: Europarties (transnational political party federations) Manifest Direct reference to an Europarty affiliation Latent Indirect reference to an Europarty affiliation D2: Reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration Latent Indirect reference to an (European) party collaboration E: Reference to European values, attitudes, shared beliefs and 'ways of doing things' Manifest Clear evocation to European values, attituted etc. Latent Concealed evocation to European values, attitudes etc. F: Reference to EU party specialists or / and party delegation to EU institutions Manifest Direct reference to EU party specialist or/and party delegation Latent Indirect reference to EU party specialist or/and party delegation

OPEN CODING CATEGORIES PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY (inductively formulated manifest categories) Directly points to (current or future) international or EU presence 1. Party name and abbreviation in a foreign language and (possible) collaboration Directly points to (current or future) international or EU business 2. International bank account related operations or possible party donations Directly points to (current or future) international funding of party's 3. Party political academy international funding Academy, which means that the funding might also originate from the EU.

5.1. Croatian Democratic Union – HDZ Croatian Democratic Union, shortened on Croatian HDZ, amended its statute after EU accession, in May of 2016 and out of all five statutes under investigation it is the “latest” one.

HDZ’s statute is divided into eleven sections, which are chronologically: (I) main provisions, (II) party membership, (III) HDZ party configuration, (IV) HDZ honor courts, (V) supervisory boards, (VI) particular way of organizing and operating in HDZ, (VII) the method of election and mandate duration, (VIII) election nominations, (IX) party financing and party assets, (X) cessation of HDZ and last (XI) transitional and concluding provisions.

Out of thirty statutory pages, fifteen are devoted to party configuration and two more to particular ways of organizing and operating in HDZ.

In terms of party statute Europeanization, there are in total eighteen examples of party statute Europeanization evidence. Out of these eighteen examples, four times it occurred that one example, coming from the same party article id est out of the same coding unit, is attributed to more predefined categories of coding. Out of these four times, once it even occurred that one party article is attributed to as much as three predefined categories of coding. This is not an unusual occurrence because a single and even smallest coding unit under analysis can be analyzed differently depending on theory how to identify and interpret material. So, in these four party articles, even though entirely identical, two and once three predefined categories of coding were found. In two articles both identified predefined categories had manifest properties attributed to the found example within the article, but in the other two articles, found examples which are part of a single coding unit, had different properties depending on predefined categories of coding assorted to them. So, it occurs that a single coding unit, for example article 32, once belongs to one predefined category with latent properties, and the other time the same article 32, belongs to another predefined category with manifest context, depending on the focus and interpretation. This does not mean that examples from article 32 are different as they cannot be since they come from an identical article id est coding unit, it just means that the properties depend on elements one looks for when analyzing the same material depending on assorted category.

Altogether, these eighteen examples belong to five predefined coding categories. Predefined categories that were found are the following: - Reference to European values, attitudes, shared beliefs, and ‘ways of doing things’; - Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration; 43

- European Parliament elections; - European level structures of governance (European Union institutions); - Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation.

Furthermore, no open coding categories were found, so in the coding table of HDZ’s statute, in the Annex of the thesis, only predefined categories with transcriptions of party statute Europeanization evidence in English can be seen. The table was adjusted to the found examples, leaving out all predefined categories without content, without found examples that were set in the beginning of coding shown in the first table of this chapter.

5.1.1. HDZ party statute Europeanization First predefined coding category that was found shares its example with another predefined category, as the first found example of party statute Europeanization cannot be assorted to a single predefined category. The example contains two coding categories within a coding unit id est single party article. Both are of manifest properties so they were easy identifiable.

First identified was reference to European values, attitudes, shared beliefs and ‘ways of doing things’ and the second one was reference to the EU. Since there is only a single example of reference to European values in the entire statute, this category is therefore the first found category under investigation and is manifested in the example below. The example is found in section one, main provisions, article 2, in paragraph 6, which says: (6) HDZ is a European political party because it accepts European standards and sees the future of Croatia in Europe. 341

As this example mentions that HDZ sees the future of Croatia in Europe, it as well belongs to the second predefined category of coding, which is reference to the EU and its membership with manifest properties. If they wrote they see the future of Croatia in the EU, it would have been a much clearer example but nonetheless the context is clear, making it evidently belong to this category. Since the example is already mentioned and presented in the text above, it is not necessary to repeat it once again. Also, as all transcription of evidence can be seen in HDZ’s coding table in the Annex. It only has to be remembered that this example is a two- fold example because it is the single manifest example of the second predefined category and the only manifest example of the first category.

341 “(6) HDZ je europska stranka jer prihvaća europske standarde i budućnost Hrvatske vidi u Europi.“ 44

Besides the single manifest example in the second predefined coding category there are six more examples of latent properties, presented below.

First example is found in section one, main provisions, article 3, in paragraph 2, titled “area of activity”, which says: (2) HDZ acts abroad as well, in accordance with the Rule book adopted by the Central Committee of HDZ, and within the framework of the legal system of the country concerned.342 Second example is found in section three, party configuration, article 15, in paragraph 2, titled “basic provisions”, which says: (2) HDZ consists of basal organizations, namely party branches, municipal or city organizations and county organizations, furthermore it consists of Organization of the HDZ for the City of Zagreb and HDZ organizations abroad.343 Third example is found in section three, party configuration, article 28, in paragraphs 1 and 2, titled „HDZ Organization abroad“. It says: (1) HDZ acts abroad. (2) The structure and tasks of HDZ abroad are determined by the Rule book which HDZ organizations abroad proposed to the HDZ Central Committee.344 Fourth example is found in section three, party configuration, article 32, paragraph 1, in subparagraph d, titled „HDZ Central Committee“. It says: (1) HDZ's Central Committee consists of: d) 8 representatives who coordinate the work of HDZ abroad, in accordance with the Rules of procedure,345

Article 32 also contained another predefined coding category, the one referring to European level structures of governance (MEP’s) in subparagraph e, which will be presented as an example under its own category.

342 “(2) HDZ djeluje i u inozemstvu, u skladu s Pravilnikom koji donosi Središnji odbor HDZ-a, i u okvirima pravnog poretka dotične države.” 343 “(2) HDZ se sastoji od temeljnih organizacija, to jest ogranaka, općinskih ili gradskih organizacija i županijskih organizacija, te organizacije HDZ-a Grada Zagreba i organizacija HDZ-a u inozemstvu.” 344 “(1) HDZ djeluje u inozemstvu. (2) Ustroj i zadaće HDZ-a u inozemstvu određuju se Pravilnikom koji na prijedlog organizacija HDZ-a u inozemstvu donosi Središnji odbor HDZ-a.” 345 “(1) Središnji odbor HDZ-a čine: d) 8 predstavnika koordinacija HDZ-a u inozemstvu, sukladno Pravilniku o radu,” 45

Fifth example is found in section three, party configuration, article 37a, in paragraph 1, titled „HDZ National Council“, which says: (1) The HDZ National Council consists of: HDZ Presidency, presidents of county HDZ boards and the HDZ Zagreb president, and three to five representatives who coordinate the work of HDZ abroad and three representatives of the HDZ Youth, which are the vice president, secretary general and president of the National Committee of HDZ Youth.346 This article is the article containing three predefined categories of coding within itself. In the subsequent paragraph 3, subparagraph c and paragraph 3, subparagraph d, there are two more categories of coding found, presented under their own predefined category.

Last example of the second predefined category is found in section six, particular way of organizing and operating, article 52, in paragraph 3, titled “HDZ Youth organization”, which says: (3) HDZ Youth operates in Croatia, but can also get organized abroad.347

Six examples of evidence above all have latent properties due to indirect reference to the EU. EU is replaced with a possible synonym such as “abroad”. The only clear, manifest example found in this category that directly evokes the EU was found in article 2, when EU was referred to as “Europe”. In total, the second category of coding contains seven examples of party statute Europeanization.

In the third predefined category of coding – European Parliament elections, there are two examples of party statute Europeanization evidence. Both are manifest, they directly refer to the EP elections and leave no doubt whether they belong to this category as EP is distinctly mentioned.

First example is from an already mentioned article (article 37a). It comes from the third statute section, party configuration, paragraph 3 of the article, subparagraph c, under the title „HDZ National Council“, and it says: (3) The HDZ National Council, besides the tasks it has from paragraph 2 of this article: c) based on the proposal of HDZ Presidency decides upon candidates for presidential and parliamentary and European Parliament elections,348

346 “(1) Nacionalno vijeće HDZ-a čine: Predsjedništvo HDZ-a, predsjednici županijskih odbora HDZ-a i predsjednik HDZ-a Grada Zagreba, te tri do pet predstavnika koordinacija HDZa iz inozemstva i tri predstavnika Mladeži HDZ-a i to zamjenik predsjednika, glavni tajnik i predsjednik Nacionalnog odbora Mladeži HDZ-a.” 347 “(3) Mladež HDZ-a djeluje u Hrvatskoj, a može se organizirati i u inozemstvu.” 46

Second example is found in the eight section of the statute, election nominations, in article 58, titled “nomination procedure”, which says: The procedure for nominating on the national elections and the elections for the European Parliament and the elections for local government and self-government is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the HDZ Statute, and mandatory instructions are made by the HDZ Presidency349.

In the fourth predefined coding category – European level structures of governance, or precisely in the subcategory of referring to MEP’s, five manifest examples of party statute Europeanization were found. All five of them clearly and directly refer to MEP’s, so there is no additional explanation necessary.

First example was found in section two, party membership, in article 12, paragraph 2, titled “Commitments of officials, representatives and councilors”, which says: (2) HDZ members elected as representatives in the Croatian Parliament, members of the European Parliament, and councilors in county, city and municipal assemblies, are obliged to give their mandate back to HDZ if they cross over from HDZ to another political party, establish a new political party or want to become independent representatives. These places are filled by their deputies.350 Second example was found in section three, HDZ party configuration, in article 26, paragraph 3, titled “Organization of the HDZ for the City of Zagreb”, which says: (3) Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament and Government members who are HDZ members due to their positions are part of the City council if they have residence or are elected in the Zagreb area. President of the HDZ Club in the City Assembly, the President of the City Assembly and the Mayor of the City of Zagreb are included into the City council due to their positions if they are HDZ members.

348 “(3) Nacionalno vijeće, osim zadaće iz stavka 2. ovog članka: c) na prijedlog Predsjedništva HDZ-a određuje kandidate na predsjedničkim i parlamentarnim izborima i izborima za Europski parlament,” 349 “Postupak za predlaganje na državnim izborima i izborima za članove Europskog parlamenta te izborima za tijela lokalne uprave i samouprave provodi se sukladno odredbama Statuta HDZ-a, a obvezatne upute donosi Predsjedništvo HDZ-a.” 350 “(2) Članovi HDZ-a koji su izabrani kao zastupnici u Hrvatski sabor, članovi Europskog parlamenta, te vijećnici u županijskim, gradskim i općinskim skupštinama, dužni su svoj mandat obvezno vratiti HDZ-u ako prijeđu iz HDZ-a u drugu stranku, osnuju novu stranku ili žele postati neovisni. Ta mjesta popunjavaju njihovi zamjenici.” 47

President of the HDZ Youth and presidents of HDZ organizations, founded on the city level, due to their position are members of the HDZ City council of Zagreb.351

This second example of the fourth category is both a predefined category and an indicator of a potentially missing category. If analyzed further it indicates that only the HDZ Zagreb organization has officially involved MEP’s into their structures, while municipal, city and county organizations formally have not. As there are MEP's currently that do not have residence in Zagreb, it would be interesting to find out whether they are excluded from their city or other organizations, depending on their residence origin. Dubravka Šuica352 and Ivana Maletić353 are HDZ’s MEP’s who do not have Zagreb residence, so it would be interesting to find out whether the two of them are unofficially involved in local organizational structures, as they are clearly not officially involved.

Third example was found in section three, party configuration, in article 30, in paragraph 3, subparagraph b, titled „HDZ General Assembly“, which says: (3) HZD General Assembly consists of: b) representatives in the Croatian Parliament and members of the European Parliament who are HDZ members,354 Fourth example was found in section three, party configuration, article 32, in paragraph 1, subparagraph 2, titled “HDZ Central Committee”, which says: (1) HDZ Central Committee consists of: e) representatives in the Croatian Parliament and members of the European Parliament if HDZ members,355

351 “(3) Saborski zastupnici, članovi Europskog parlamenta i članovi Vlade koji su članovi HDZ-a po položaju ulaze u Gradski odbor ako imaju prebivalište ili su izabrani na području Grada Zagreba. Predsjednik Kluba zastupnika HDZ-a u Gradskoj skupštini, predsjednik Gradske skupštine i gradonačelnik Grada Zagreba po položaju ulaze u gradski odbor ako su članovi HDZ-a. Predsjednik Mladeži HDZ-a i predsjednici Zajednica HDZ-a, osnovanih na razini gradske organizacije, po položaju su članovi Gradskog odbora HDZ-a Grada Zagreba.” 352 Dubravka Šuica's Croatian residence and city of origin is in Dubrovnik. Available at: http://www.dubravka- suica.eu/index.php/en/ [Accessed October 24th 2016] 353 Ivana Maletić's Croatian residence and city of origin is in Šibenik. Available at: http://www.ivana- maletic.com/ [Accessed October 24th 2016] 354 “(3) Opći sabor HDZ-a sastoji se od: b) zastupnika u Hrvatskom saboru i članova Europskog parlamenta koji su članovi HDZ-a,” 355 “(1) Središnji odbor HDZ-a čine: e) zastupnici u Hrvatskom saboru i članovi Europskog parlamenta ako su članovi HDZ-a,” 48

Fifth and the last example of the fourth predefined category was found in section six, particular way of organizing and operating in the HDZ, in article 53a, titled “HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament”. All six paragraphs of this article contain party statute Europeanization evidence, but within this single coding unit (entire article), there are two predefined coding category found. One is the already mentioned category of referring to MEP’s and the other is reference to Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation since the article also mentions the EPP and HDZ being part of it. Paragraphs of the article which refer to MEP’s are paragraph 3, 4, 5 and 6. They directly refer to the “HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament”. This also means they refer to MEP’s as only HDZ’ MEP’s already in EP can be part of the HDZ Members Club in the EP, leaving the context evident. Paragraph 1 and 2 mention both MEP’s and the EPP, meaning they contain two predefined categories of coding. The article in full says:

(1) Elected HDZ members in the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia establish the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament within the framework of the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament. (2) HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament in accordance with the Program of HDZ and the decisions of HDZ central bodies takes up positions on the proposed acts within the framework of the European People’s Party Group adopted by the European Parliament. (3) On behalf of the HDZ Presidency proposal, the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament elects and dismisses the president and the vice president of the Club. (4) The President of the Club presents and represents the Club. (5) Members of the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament participate in the work of the HDZ Deputy club in the Croatian Parliament. (6) HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament delivers its Rules of Procedure.356

356 “(1) Izabrani članovi HDZ-a u Europski parlament iz Republike Hrvatske ustanovljuju Klub članova HDZ-a u Europskom parlamentu u okviru Kluba članova Europskog parlamenta iz Europske pučke stranke. (2) Klub članova HDZ-a u Europskom parlamentu u sukladno Programu HDZ-a i odlukama središnjih tijela HDZ-a zauzima stajališta o prijedlozima akata u okviru Kluba članova Europskog parlamenta iz Europske pučke stranke koje donosi Europski parlament. (3) Na prijedlog Predsjedništva HDZ-a Klub članova HDZ-a u Europskom parlamentu bira i razrješuje predsjednika i potpredsjednika Kluba. (4) Predsjednik Kluba predstavlja i zastupa Klub. (5) Članovi Kluba HDZ-a u Europskom parlamentu sudjeluju u radu Kluba zastupnika HDZ-a u Hrvatskom saboru. 49

Last, fifth predefined category is reference to Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation. Within this category, there is a single manifest example of, already mentioned in a shared article in the previous category and two more latent examples of evidence referring to other transnational (European) party cooperation. The only manifest example has a clear and direct reference to the EPP, leaving it evident in paragraphs 1 and 2. The other latent examples do not directly mention European transnational party cooperation but instead use synonyms such as “other forms of political cooperation”, “related political parties abroad” and “international associations of relating political parties”.

First example was found in section one, main provisions, article 7, in paragraph 1 and 2, titled “Relations towards other political parties and associations”. It says: (1) HDZ cooperates with related political parties’ home and abroad. (2) HDZ enrolls into international associations of related political parties based on the decision of the Central Committee if that attributes to the fulfilment of its programmatic goals.357 Second example was found in article 37a again, paragraph 3, subparagraph d, titled „HDZ National Council“, where it says: (3) The HDZ National Council, besides the tasks it has from paragraph 2 of this article: d) decides upon election and postelection coalitions and other forms of cooperation with other political parties,358

These were all eighteen examples of found evidence, both manifest and latent, but mostly manifest since the ratio is ten to eight. There was a possibly missing category mentioned in regard to MEP’s and their involvement or on the other hand their non-involvement in municipal, city or county organizations of same importance as the one attributed to the Zagreb Organization. Furthermore, there was another article in the statute that evoked the same question of non-involvement, attentionally or unintentionally leaving out MEP’s from the structure of HDZ Presidency. The question was raised since HDZ Presidency consists out of many party representatives, whose positions justify their involvement but also other

(6) Klub članova HDZ-a u Europskom parlamentu donosi Poslovnik o svojem radu.“ 357 “(1) HDZ surađuje sa srodnim strankama u domovini i u inozemstvu. (2) HDZ se na temelju odluke Središnjeg odbora učlanjuje u međunarodne udruge srodnih stranaka, ako to pridonosi ostvarivanju njegovih programskih ciljeva.” 358 “(3) Nacionalno vijeće, osim zadaće iz stavka 2. ovog članka: d) odlučuje o izbornim i poslijeizbornim koalicijama kao i o drugim oblicima suradnje s drugim političkim strankama,” 50

representatives whose role in the political life of the party seems a lot less important as the one of MEP’s. For instance party article 36 mentions that HDZ Presidency consists of the HDZ president, HDZ vice president, and president of the HDZ Deputy Club in the Croatian Parliament and so on, until it mentions that it also consists of presidents of HDZ party associations such as the female HDZ party association, the veterans association etc. It is dubious how party associations presidents are prioritized before MEP’s, whose legitimacy in the political life of the party is by far bigger, making this party article a possibly missing category of party statute Europeanization evidence359.

5.2. Social Democratic Party – SDP Social Democratic Party, or shortened on Croatian SDP, formed its last statute in June of 2012, meaning it was last formed or amended before the EU accession.

Their statute is divided into five sections, chronologically in numerical sequence: (I) general provisions, (II) party membership, (III) SDP party configuration, (IV) transitional and final provisions, after which comes a part of the statute devoted to party candidate nominations and elections. The last part is particularly concerned with nominations and elections of the party president and SDP party structure members, such as members running for vice presidential positions, Presidency and Main Board positions. Even though entirely concerned with nominations and electing candidates, not once are nominations and elections of MEP’s mentioned, making it peculiar as they have such comprehensive procedures for party functionaries, spanning on six out of thirty-four pages. This would also make the last part lack categories that might contain party statute Europeanization evidence.

Furthermore, out of a total of thirty-four pages, twenty-two are devoted to party configuration, which is a similar occurrence in all party statutes. It seems as if the statute spans over forty pages, but in fact it only contains thirty-four pages of statutory decisions, and the rest is either empty or the table of content.

In terms of party statute Europeanization evidence, there were no open coding categories found. On the other hand there eight examples of party statute Europeanization evidence, belonging to three predefined categories of coding: - Reference to European level structures of governance, in particular reference to MEP’s; - Reference to European Parliament elections and

359 The article in question is article 36, titled „HDZ Presidency“ and can be found on page 18 of the party statute. 51

- Reference to Europarties or other transnational (European) party cooperation.

In the coding table of SDP’s statute, found categories with transcriptions of party statute Europeanization can be seen. The table was adjusted to the found examples, leaving out all categories without content set in the beginning of coding and can be found in the Annex. As in the case of HDZ, there is a larger amount of manifest examples of party Europeanization evidence. There are six manifest examples, and two latent ones in total.

In the case of the first two mentioned predefined categories all party statute Europeanization evidence that was found is of manifest properties, with a clear reference either to MEP’s or EP elections. In the third category, reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation, evidence was only found with latent context, meaning it does not clearly evoke European party cooperation but addresses it with other possibly equivalent words such as ‘abroad’ or ‘international’. Unlike in HDZ’s statute, only once it occurred that a single party article is a two-fold example of evidence. It occurred in article 38, where two examples belong to different predefined categories and have different properties and context.

5.2.1. SDP party statute Europeanization In the first predefined category of coding – reference to European level structures of governance (particularly reference to MEP’s), the following manifest examples were found. First was found in section three, SDP party configuration, article 40, which says: To the Main Board sessions the following are invited: the president of SDP, the vice president of SDP, the members of SDP Presidency, SDP MP’s in the Croatian Parliament and in the European Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers coming from SDP, SDP party secretary general, SDP business director, president of the SDP Croatian Forum, chairman of the Central Council of SDP Croatia, president of the Business Committee, president of the Statutory Commission, the presidents of county organizations and the presidents of city organizations which are county seats.360 Second example was again found in section three, SDP party configuration, in article 69, which says:

360 “Na sjednice Glavnog odbora pozivaju se predsjednik/predsjednica SDP-a, potpredsjednici/potpredsjednice SDP-a, članovi/članice Predsjedništva SDP-a, zastupnici/zastupnice SDP-a u Hrvatskom saboru i Europskom parlamentu, ministri/ministrice i zamjenici/zamjenice ministara/ministrica iz redova SDP-a, glavni/glavna tajnik/tajnica SDP-a, poslovni/poslovna direktor/direktorica SDP-a, predsjednici/predsjednice foruma SDP-a Hrvatske, predsjednik/predsjednica Središnjeg savjeta SDP-a Hrvatske, predsjednik/predsjednica Poslovnog odbora, predsjednik/predsjednica Statutarne komisije, predsjednici/predsjednice županijskih organizacija te predsjednici/predsjednice gradskih organizacija sjedišta županija.” 52

The municipal or city council consists of the president, vice presidents and the secretary and the elected members. To the sessions of the municipal or city council, it is mandatory to invite members of the organization which are also members of representative and executive bodies of local and regional governments, representatives in the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, members of Government and the president of the SDP forum and the council and SDP members positioned at higher levels of the organization.361 Third example was as well found in section three, SDP party configuration, article 79, which says: To the sessions of the county council, it is mandatory to invite county prefects and county prefect’s deputies, councillors of the county assembly, presidents of the city and municipal organizations, members of the SDP Croatia organization and representatives in the Croatian Parliament and European Parliament, ministers, deputy ministers and assistant ministers coming from SDP ranks, presidents of the SDP forum and SDP members which have their residence in the county area.362

All of the three examples above, belonging to the mentioned predefined category, clearly and without uncertainty mention MEP’s and use no synonyms, making it easily identifiable.

In the second predefined category of coding – reference to EP elections, three more manifest examples were found and can be seen below. First example was found in section three, SDP party configuration, in article 38, which says:

The Main Board:  decides upon SDP candidates for the European Parliament on the suggestion of the president.363

361 “Općinski, odnosno gradski odbor čine predsjednik/predsjednica, potpredsjednici/ potpredsjednice i tajnik/tajnica te izabrani/izabrane članovi/članice. Na sjednicu općinskog, odnosno gradskog odbora obavezno se pozivaju članovi/članice organizacije koji su članovi/članice predstavničkih i izvršnih tijela jedinica lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave, zastupnici/zastupnice u Hrvatskom saboru i Europskom parlamentu, članovi/članice Vlade te predsjednici/predsjednice foruma i savjeta SDP-a i članovi/članice organa SDP-a na višim razinama organiziranja.” 362 “Na sjednice županijskog odbora obvezno se pozivaju župan i zamjenici župana, vijećnici/vijećnice županijske skupštine, predsjednici/predsjednice gradskih i općinskih organizacija, članovi/članice organa SDP-a Hrvatske i zastupnici/zastupnice u Hrvatskom saboru i Europskom parlamentu, ministri/ministrice, zamjenici/zamjenice i pomoćnici/pomoćnice ministra/ministrice iz redova SDP-a koji/koje imaju prebivalište na području županije, predsjednici/predsjednice foruma SDP-a, članovi/članice SDP-a.” 363 “Glavni odbor: 53

Article 38 contains two predefined categories of coding. First obviously being this one and the second being reference to Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation, following within its own category.

The second example was found in section three, SDP party configuration, in article 41, which says: Majority of the Main Boards’ members is necessary for deciding upon candidates for the representatives in the Croatian Parliament, European Parliament and upon the candidate for the President of Republic of Croatia.364 The third, and the last example of this category, was found again in section three, SDP party configuration, in article 49, which says: SDP Presidency:  gives its opinion about the suggested election program and suggested SDP candidates for the representatives in the Croatian and European Parliament, about the candidate for the President of the Republic of Croatia, candidate for the Prime Minister-designate of the Croatian Government and decides upon pre-election and post-election agreements for the Croatian Parliament and the elections for the President of the Republic of Croatia;365

Even though these three examples are of manifest properties and context, they are not direct as it is the case in the previous category. EP elections are not mentioned per se but candidates for EP elections. Nonetheless, one first needs to be a candidate in the elections to become an MEP, so this makes all three examples fall into this coding category.

Lastly, in the third predefined category – reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation, two examples with latent properties are found, out of which one is from a shared

• na prijedlog predsjednika/predsjednice donosi odluku o kandidatima/ kandidatkinjama SDP-a za Europski parlament” 364 “Natpolovična većina ukupnog broja članova/članica potrebna je i za donošenje odluke Glavnog odbora o kandidatima/kandidatkinjama za zastupnike/zastupnice u Hrvatski sabor, Europski parlament i kandidatu/kandidatkinji za predsjednika/predsjednicu Republike Hrvatske.” 365 “Predsjedništvo SDP-a: • daje mišljenje o prijedlogu Izbornog programa i prijedlozima za donošenje odluke o kandidatima/kandidatkinjama SDP-a za zastupnike/zastupnice u Hrvatskom saboru i Europskom parlamentu, kandidatu/kandidatkinji za predsjednika/predsjednicu Republike Hrvatske, kandidatu/kandidatkinji za mandatara/mandatarku Vlade Republike Hrvatske te odluke o zaključivanju sporazuma o predizbornoj i postizbornoj suradnji s drugim političkim strankama na izborima za Hrvatski sabor i izborima za predsjednika/predsjednicu Republike Hrvatske;” 54

two-fold article. First example was found in section one, general provisions, in article 4, which says: In pursuit of objectives and programmatic curricula SDP cooperates with political parties, associations and individuals in the Republic of Croatia and abroad. SDP may join international social democratic associations and their alliances.366 Second example was found in section three, SDP party configuration, in article 38, saying: The Main board:  decides upon SDP’s international associations;367

Besides noticing that in the last comprehensive part of the statute there are no procedures for MEP’s candidate nomination and election, there is another unusuality. In section two, party membership, in article 13, the following is said: A candidate for party functions, as well as an SDP candidate for a representative body of local and regional governments and MP’s in the Croatian Parliament or any other function at local and regional and national level, cannot be a member of the party with outstanding liabilities arising from membership fees for a period of six months or longer.368

If this is true, and MEP’s are exempted, which they are according to the presented article, it would be interesting to find out whether they are also eligible for the loss of party membership in the case they do not pay membership fees. Out of moral reasons it is unquestionable whether they are eligible for loss of membership, but in fact there is not even a ‘dead letter’ forcing them to oblige or a rule being enforced on them in theory.

366 “U ostvarivanju ciljeva i programskih osnova SDP surađuje s političkim strankama, udrugama i pojedicima/pojedinkama u Republici Hrvatskoj i inozemstvu. SDP se može udružiti u međunarodne udruge socijaldemokratske opcije i njihove saveze.” 367 “Glavni odbor: • donosi odluku o međunarodnom udruživanju SDP-a;” 368 “Kandidat/kandidatkinja za stranačke funkcije, kao niti kandidat/kandidatkinja SDP-a za člana/članicu predstavničkog tijela jedinice lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i zastupnika/zastupnicu u Hrvatski sabor ili bilo koju drugu dužnost na lokalnoj i područnoj (regionalnoj) te državnoj razini, ne može biti član/članica Stranke s nepodmirenim obvezama po osnovi članarine za razdoblje od šest mjeseci ili dulje.” 55

5.3. Croatian Peasant Party – HSS Croatian Peasant Party, or shortened on Croatian HSS, formed its statute in December of 2009, but since then had three replenishments. One was in July of 2013, right after EU accession, one was in January of 2014 and the latest was in April of 2016. This would mean they come second in the run for “latest” party statutes. Out of the three replenishments, the latest from 2016 is the only one which possesses party statute Europeanization evidence and is of importance for this investigation. In other two, no evidence was found.

HSS’ statute is divided into thirteen sections, chronologically: (I) introductory provisions, (II) party name, headquarters and party emblem, (III) party representation, (IV) party objectives, methods of operating and public work, (V) party membership, (VI) party configuration, (VII) party associations, (VIII) party leadership - central bodies, (IX) mandate durations and recalls, (X) party Secretariat, (XI) assets, (XII) termination of all party activity and (XIII) final provisions.

Out of thirty-one pages, thirteen pages are devoted to party configuration and nine more to party leadership and central bodies, which is by its content inseparable from party configuration, even though sectioned separately. In total twenty-one pages out of thirty-one are devoted to party configuration and organizational structures.

In terms of party statute Europeanization evidence, no open coding categories were found. On the other hand, there were five predefined categories found containing eleven examples. Out of eleven examples, six examples come from two identical party articles id est coding units, in which each has three examples of party statute Europeanization identified within the article. Also out of the eleven, there is a single example that has manifest context and the rest of the examples are of latent context.

The predefined categories that were found are: - Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration; - Reference to European level structures of governance, in particular reference to MEP’s and representatives in EU institutions; - Reference to European Parliament elections; - Reference to Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation and - Reference to EU party specialists or/and party delegation to the European Parliament.

In the HSS’ statute coding table, in the Annex, found categories with transcriptions of party statute Europeanization evidence can be seen. As was the case with previous tables, HSS’ table is also adjusted to the found examples, leaving out all categories without content.

5.3.1. HSS party statute Europeanization First predefined category that was found with latent properties is referencing the EU and EU membership or/and European integration, with two examples of evidence. Both are shared by three predefined categories of coding. The first found example is located in the eight section of the party statute, party leadership - central bodies, in article 73 where is said that: The Main board:  determines on behalf of a proposal from the Presidency the lists of candidates for the Croatian Parliament and the candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of.369

At first sight this latent example does not look like it contains more than one predefined category of coding within the same article, but contextually its meaning varies depending which part of the article one focuses on and it depends on the context of the investigation. If the focus is on “all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of”, than an example of party statute Europeanization with latent properties and context is found, belonging to the predefined category of reference to the EU and EU membership, since Croatia is a member state of the EU – obviously an international integration.

At second thought if one focuses on the part saying “lists of … candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of” than an latent example of EP elections as a predefined category is found, as “candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of” may refer to candidates for EP elections making them future representatives in EP which is a representative body of an international integration Croatia is a member state of.

Last, if one focuses again on the part saying “candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of” and presumes it refers to the EU when “international integrations” are mentioned than several representative bodies of the EU come in question for which one can nominate candidates for – European Commission or any

369 “Glavni odbor: • utvrđuje, na prijedlog Predsjedništva, liste kandidata za Hrvatski sabor te kandidate za zastupnike u svim predstavničkim tijelima međunarodnih integracija kojih je Republika Hrvatska član.” 57

other EU representative body or any EU institution where candidates are nominated and chosen from members of domestic political parties. This third point of view opens the possibility for this article to fall into the European level structures of governance (EU institutions) category. In total this means that in a single coding unit – article 73, three latent predefined categories of coding are identified.

Second example is again a latent example, found in article 79, in section eight, party leadership - central bodies. The article says: The Presidency:  proposes candidates to the Main board for the election of representatives into Croatian Parliament and all the candidates for all representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of.370 Due to the part of the article saying “international integrations which Croatia is a member of”, this article belongs to the predefined category of reference to the EU or EU membership. Due to the part mentioning “candidates for all representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of” this article, just as it is the case with article 73, covers two more predefined categories, which are the already mentioned categories reference to European level structures of governance (reference to representatives in EU institutions) and reference to EP elections as candidates for EP elections can also be addressed as “candidates for all representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of”.

Second predefined category that was found is reference to European level structures of governance or precisely reference to MEP’s or representatives in EU institutions. In total this second found category contains three examples of party statute Europeanization, out of which two were already presented above. Article 73 and 79 again fall into this predefined category with latent context and properties, since both articles mention representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of. Furthermore, the second predefined category contains the only manifest example in HSS’ party statute. It is the third example of this second predefined category and the single manifest example of party statute Europeanization evidence in the entire party statute. It was found in the third statutory

370 “Predsjedništvo: • predlaže Glavnom odboru kandidate za izbor za zastupnike u Hrvatski sabor, te kandidate za zastupnike u svim predstavničkim tijelima međunarodnih integracija kojih je Republika Hrvatska član.” 58

replenishment, the only replenishment to the party statute containing evidence of party statute Europeanization. It says: Article 78 of HSS’ party statute is extended with paragraph 11:  Members of the European Parliament. 371 372 It without doubt refers to MEP’s and it is curious how this example is found in the replenishment from 2016 and not before, nor in the statute nor in the two previous replenishments. It can only be guessed why this is so, since HSS had an MEP in 2014373.

Third predefined category that was found only contained two latent examples from articles 73 and 79, which belonged into this category out of already known reasons since candidates for all representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of might refer to candidates for EP elections.

Fourth predefined category that was found is reference to transnational (European) party cooperation. This category contains three latent examples of party statute Europeanization evidence. First example referring to transnational (European) party cooperation was found in the fourth section of the statute, party objectives, methods of operating and public work, article 5, which says: For the purposes of achieving party goals and interests, HSS collaborates with other political parties and international organizations, if this cooperation contributes to the realization of the party program.374 Second example referring to transnational (European) party cooperation was found in the sixth section, party configuration, article 17, which says that: Specific organizational structures of HSS are: organizational structures of HSS abroad.375

371 As it is a replenishment of the HSS party statute, it should be noted that article 78 in its whole can only be found in the original party statute and it says that: The Presidency of HSS is made out of: (1) the president of the party, (2) five vice presidents, (3) head secretary of HSS, (4) presidents of regional HSS branches, (5) five elected members to the Presidency, (6) members of parliament, (7) members of the Croatian government, (8) the county prefect and (9) five representatives of the county branches who have gained best election results and (10) presidents of party associations. 372 “Članak 78. Statuta HSS-a dopunjuje se točkom 11. • Zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu” 373Marijana Petir serves as an MEP from HSS in the European Parliament from 2014 onward. Available at: http://www.petir.eu/o-meni/8 [Accessed October 24th 2016] 374 “Radi postignuća svojih ciljeva i interesa, HSS surađuje s drugim političkim strankama i međunarodnim organizacijama, ukoliko ta suradnja pridonosi ostvarivanju programa Stranke.” 375 “Posebni (ustrojstveni) oblici HSS-a jesu: organizacije HSS-a u inozemstvu.” 59

Third and last latent example was found in the seventh section, party associations, article 63, which says that: Members of HSS who live abroad, and are citizens of the Republic of Croatian, may establish party branches in accordance with this statute, if they are in accord with party program documents and the objectives of HSS at home. More branches abroad join into an organization of the state concerned, and the organization has to comply with the provisions of this statute intended for county party organizations. The form of organizational structures, its operation and body branches abroad, must be in accordance with this statute and in accordance with the laws of the country in which the branch is established. Members and branches of HSS abroad have rights, obligations and responsibilities the same as the members and the branches of HSS at home, unless contrary to Croatian regulations and the regulations of the country abroad in which they have established a branch.376

All three examples found in the fourth category of referring to other transnational (European) party cooperation are of latent context and properties, as none of them directly mention European party collaboration but instead use expressions such as “HSS collaborates with other political parties and international organizations”, “organizational structures of HSS abroad” and “branches (of HSS) abroad”. HSS’ European party affiliation is with EPP but they do not once mention it directly377, whereas HDZ, had two direct referrals toward EPP in their statute. HSS’s only MEP, just like HDZ’s MEP’s, has ties with the EPP within the EP because she forms part of the Group of the European People's Party within the EP378, making not having any references to their Europarty ties curious again.

Last, fifth predefined category that was found is reference to EU party specialists or party delegation to EU institutions. It was found in one example of latent properties and context, in the tenth section, party Secretariat, article 95, where is said:

376 “Članovi HSS-a koji žive u inozemstvu, a državljani su Republike Hrvatske, mogu osnivati ogranke u skladu s ovim Statutom ukoliko prihvaćaju programske dokumente i ciljeve HSS-a u domovini. Više ogranaka udružuje se u zemaljsku organizaciju dotične države, na koju se sukladno primjenjuju odredbe ovog Statuta o županijskim organizacijama. Oblik organiziranja, način rada i tijela ogranaka u inozemstvu, moraju biti u skladu s ovim Statutom i propisima zemlje u kojoj se osniva ogranak. Članovi i ogranci HSS-a u inozemstvu imaju prava, obveze i odgovornosti kao i članovi i organizacije HSS-a u domovini, ako to nije u suprotnosti s propisima Republike Hrvatske i zemlje u kojoj se organiziraju.” 377 HSS joined EPP in 2002. Available at: http://www.epp.eu/member-parties/ [Accessed October 25th 2016] 378 Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124749/MARIJANA_PETIR_home.html [Accessed October 25th 2016] 60

The HSS Secretariat is made of:  the accounting and the financial department, the department concerned with technical and organizational activities, the department concerned with international activities, and the department for public relations and the media.379

Even though no specialists or party delegation to the EU are directly mentioned, there is still mention of an entire “department concerned with international activities” whose task might also be all EU related affairs. There has to be someone in charge of the EU and MEP’s within the party, even though it is not mentioned directly as an “EU department”.

In the two previous statutes – HDZ’s and SDP’s, it was noticed how there might be some categories missing. The same occurred here. In the statute, attentionally or mistakenly, there seems to be material missing which would serve as party statute Europeanization evidence. For example article 15 is completely concerned with party candidate selection for official, executive and legislative bodies, as well as with candidate selection for county, city and municipal officials380, but nowhere is it mentioned how they choose MEP candidates or any other EU delegates, which raises questions of transparency, especially since have an MEP.

5.4. Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats – HNS Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats, or shortened on Croatian HNS, has formed its last statute in March of 2012, a year before EU accession and has not since then had any replenishments. In the context of the thesis’ topic it is important to mention that at the time of the last statute formation, the president of HNS – Vesna Pusić, was also the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs as well as the vice president of the ALDE and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia381.

HSS’ statute is divided into seven sections, chronologically in numerical sequence: (I) main provisions, (II) party membership, (III) organizational structures and party configuration, (IV) financial affairs, (V) candidate selection and elections, (VI) party acts and last (VII) transitional and final provisions.

379 “Tajništvo HSS-a čine: • služba računovodstva i financija, služba za tehničko-organizacijske poslove, služba za međunarodne poslove, služba za odnose s javnošću i medijima.” 380 The article in question can be found in section VI, in article 15, on pages 5 and 6 of the party statute. 381 Available at: http://www.mvep.hr/files/file/bivsi-ministri/CV-Pusic.pdf [Accessed October 26th 2016] 61

In total, the statute has thirty-two pages, out of which twenty-six pages are devoted to organizational structures and party configuration, which makes 113 out of 145 articles devoted to it as well. HNS has the largest part of its statute devoted to organizational structures, at least in comparison with the other four statutes.

In terms of party statute Europeanization evidence, two open coding categories and four predefined coding categories were found. In total, there are eighteen examples of party statute Europeanization evidence, out of which three of them contain two predefined categories of coding within a single coding unit and serve as two-fold examples (articles 3, 86 and 92). Predefined categories that were found in HNS’ statute are: - Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration; - Reference to European level structures of governance, in particular reference to MEP’s; - Reference to European Parliament elections and - Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation. The inductively formulated open coding categories that were found are: - International bank account and - Political Academy international funding.

In HNS’ statute coding table, found in the Annex, both the predefined and open coding categories with transcriptions of party statute Europeanization evidence in English can be found. As was the case with previous three coding tables, predefined categories without content were left out of the table.

5.4.1. HNS party statute Europeanization In the case of HNS, examples of found evidence start with the two open coding categories. These are reference to an international bank account and HNS Political Academy international funding. Both categories suggest with its properties that there is intent for future or current international or EU related business as there would be no possibility to conduct any business outside Croatian borders without an international bank account, nor would it be easy for HNS to fund its Political Academy without any funds coming across state borders, internationally or from EU origin. Other political parties under investigation might also have international bank accounts or their own political academies funded internationally but they have not intentionally and formally specified it in their statutes, while HNS did, meaning it carries bigger importance for them.

The first open coding category, reference to an international bank account, was found in the first section of the statute, main provisions, in article 2, subparagraph 1, where it says: (2) HNS is a legal entity, registered in a political party registry conducted by an authorized body in the Republic of Croatia, it has its giro account and a foreign currency account, and in legal affairs with third parties it assumes commitment with its assets, i.e. its property.382 The second open coding category, HNS Political Academy international funding, was found in the third section of the statute, organizational structures and party configuration, in article 118, subparagraph 2, where it says: (2) HNS procures funds for undisturbed running of the Political Academy of HNS. Party presidency helps the Political Academy in raising the funds from other sources, particularly from international funds.383

In the case of predefined categories four were found. Manifest examples are a majority in HNS’ statute. In the first category – reference to the EU and its membership, a single manifest example of party statute Europeanization was found. As it directly mentions EU, there is no need for further explanation. It was found in the first section of the statute, main provisions, in article 3, subparagraph 2, where it says that: (2) HNS operates also abroad, in accordance with the law, this Statute, the legal order of the European Union and the state within which it operates.384

In the second category – references to European level structures of governance (EU institutions), six different examples of party statute Europeanization were found. Within this single category, coding subcategories exist, out of which just a reference to EU institutions and a reference to MEP’s as a subcategory were found. All six examples are of manifest properties, one example belonging to referring to EU institutions subcategory and five more belonging to the MEP’s subcategory. What is important to emphasize is that all found evidence is clear and it unequivocally presents words such as “European Union” and “Members of the European Parliament”, leaving this second predefined category clear.

382 “(2) HNS je pravna osoba, upisana u registar političkih stranaka koji se vodi pri nadležnom tijelu Republike Hrvatske, ima svoj žiroračun i devizni račun, a u pravnom prometu s trećima za preuzete obveze odgovara svojim sredstvima, odnosno imovinom.” 383 “(2) HNS osigurava sredstva za neometan rad Političke akademije HNS-a. Predsjedništvo pomaže Političkoj akademiji u prikupljanju sredstava iz drugih izvora, napose međunarodnih fondova.“ 384 “(2) HNS djeluje i u inozemstvu, u skladu sa zakonom, ovim Statutom, pravnim poretkom Europske unije i države u kojoj djeluje.“ 63

In the subcategory of just referring to EU institutions, the single example was found in section two of the statute, in party membership, in article 10, subparagraph 1 and it says: HNS member has the right and obligation:  to be nominated as a candidate on party lists for elections of representative and executive bodies in all levels in the Republic of Croatia and for European Union institutions;385

In the subcategory of referring to MEP’s, five following examples were found, all of them in the third section of the statute, in organizational structures and party configuration. First was found in article 23, subparagraph 6, which says: (6) Regardless of the number of members, the composition of the subsidiary assembly is the following:  parliament representatives, government members and Members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS;386 The second was found in article 45, subparagraph 1, which says: (1) County assembly is composed out of:  members of the national parliament, members of government, and members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS, coming from the area of the county party organization;…387 The third was found in article 64, which says: Regional party assembly is composed out of:  members of the national parliament, members of government, and members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS, coming from the area of the regional party organization;…388 The fourth was found in article 80, which says: HNS Assembly is composed out of:

385 “Član (članica) HNS-a ima ova prava i obveze: • biti kandidiran (kandidirana) na stranačkim listama za izbore za članove predstavničkih i izvršnih tijela, na svim razinama u Republici Hrvatskoj te za institucije Europske unije;” 386 “(6) Neovisno o broju članova, u sastavu skupštine podružnice nalaze se ovi članovi podružnice: • saborski zastupnici, članovi Vlade i zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu iz redova HNS-a;” 387 “(1) Županijsku skupštinu čine: • saborski zastupnici, članovi Vlade i zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu iz redova HNS-a, s područja županijske organizacije;…” 388 “Skupštinu regionalnog saveza čine: • saborski zastupnici, članovi Vlade i zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu iz redova HNS-a, s područja regionalnog saveza;…” 64

 Members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS;389 The fifth and the last example was found in article 92, which says: HNS presidency:  on joint meetings, at least twice a year, analyzes the work of members of the Government, representative of HNS in the Croatian Parliament and MEPs;390

In the third predefined category, reference to EP elections, seven examples of party statute Europeanization were found, all of manifest properties, clearly mentioning the EP. First example, found in organizational structures and party configuration, as the following two, is found in article 56, subparagraph 1, which saying: (1) County presidency:  nominates candidates for the election of representatives into Croatian Parliament and European Parliament, in accordance with this Statute and competent authorities of HNS;391 Second example, in article 86, subparagraph 1 says: (1) HNS central party committee:  establishes the rules of nominations and elections for HNS party bodies and the rules of nominations and elections of members of the European Parliament; determines candidates for the elections for the members of the European Parliament;392 Third example, in article 92 says: HNS presidency:  proposes to the central party committee candidates for the election of representatives to the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, candidates for the future prime minister and members of the Croatian Government, and the candidate for the President of the Republic of Croatia;393

389 “Sabor HNS-a čine: • zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu iz redova HNS-a;“ 390 „Predsjedništvo HNS-a: • na zajedničkim sastancima, najmanje dva puta godišnje, analizira rad članova Vlade, zastupnika HNS-a u Hrvatskom saboru i zastupnika u Europskom parlamentu;...” 391 “(1) Predsjedništvo županijske organizacije: • predlaže kandidate (kandidatkinje) za izbor zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor i Europski parlament, u skladu sa Statutom i odlukama nadležnih tijela HNS-a;” 392 “(1) Središnji odbor HNS-a: • donosi pravilnik o kandidiranju i izborima za tijela HNS-a i pravilnik o kandidiranju i izborima za članove (članice) Europskog parlamenta; utvrđuje kandidate (kandidatkinje) za izbor članova (članica) Europskog parlamenta;…“ 393 “Predsjedništvo HNS-a: 65

Fourth example and the following three are found in candidate selection and elections. The fourth found example in article 136 says: HNS party presidency launches and announces the procedure of candidacy nominations for the elections for the European Parliament, at least six months before the elections for members of the European Parliament.394 Fifth example in article 137, in subparagraphs 1, 2 and 3 says: (1) The rights to nominate candidates for the European Parliament elections have all HNS party subsidiaries. (2) Subsidiaries point to their county branches substantiated proposals of candidates. (3) County branches of HNS select submitted candidacies in accordance with the Rules of nomination and election, and point them further to HNS presidency.395 Sixth example in article 138 says: HNS presidency establishes the list of candidates for the elections to the European Parliament and instructs the party central committee on it, which then determines the final list of candidates.396 Seventh and the last is found in article 139 says: HNS presidency appoints election headquarters for the European Parliament elections.397

In the last, fourth predefined category, which is Europarties and other transnational European party cooperation, two examples are found, both latent. Also, these are the only two examples in HNS’ statute with latent properties, making it rather curios in comparison with other statutes which do not have the odds in the same favor.

The first example is found in the very beginning, in section one, main provisions, in article 3, in 3, which say:

• predlaže Središnjem odboru kandidate (kandidatkinje) za izbor zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor i Europski parlament, kandidate (kandidatkinje) za mandatara (mandatarku) i članove (članice) Vlade Republike Hrvatske, te kandidata (kandidatkinju) za predsjednika (predsjednicu) Republike Hrvatske;” 394 “Predsjedništvo HNS-a pokreće i raspisuje postupak kandidiranja za izbore u Europski parlament, najmanje šest mjeseci prije održavanja izbora za članove (članice) Europskog parlamenta.” 395 „(1) Pravo predlaganja kandidata (kandidatkinja) za izbore u Europski parlament imaju sve podružnice HNS-a. (2) Obrazložene prijedloge kandidata (kandidatkinja) podružnice upućuju svojim županijskim organizacijama. (3) Županijske organizacije HNS-a obavljaju selekciju pristiglih kandidatura u skladu s Pravilnikom o kandidiranju i izborima te ih upućuju Predsjedništvu HNS-a.” 396 “Predsjedništvo HNS-a utvrđuje listu kandidata za izbore u Europski parlament i upućuje je Središnjem odboru, koji utvrđuje konačnu listu kandidata (kandidatkinja).“ 397 “ Predsjedništvo HNS-a imenuje izborni stožer za izbore za Europski parlament.“ 66

(3) HNS may establish or join together national and international associations, associations or organizations representing liberal-democratic principles, in accordance with this Statute and the decisions of competent authorities of HNS.398 The second example is found in organizational structures and party configuration, in article 86, subparagraph 1 where it says that: (1) HNS central party committee:  decides upon connecting and cooperating with other political parties or non-political organizations, and decides upon becoming a member in international political or non-political organization;399

In the end of HNS’ statute analysis it has to be mentioned how even though HNS’ statute was written and last amended before Croatian EU accession, it holds a large amount of manifest party statute Europeanization evidence, far more than any other party statute. HDZ also had eighteen party statute Europeanization examples, but the odds in favor of manifest examples are by far the biggest in HNS’ party statute. Whether this is a consequence of their party president at time holding the position of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and other executive EU related positions as well, can only be speculated, but is nonetheless interesting and it had to be mentioned, as well as that it seems as no categories are missing.

5.5. Istrian Democratic Assembly – IDS (Istarski demokratski sabor - Dieta democratica istriana - Istrski demokratski zbor) Istrian Democratic Assembly, or shortened on Croatian IDS, has formed its last statute in July of 2014, a year after EU accession. Along with HDZ, IDS’ statute is the only one dating after EU accession, if one does not count HSS’ replenishments.

IDS’ statute is divided into seven sections, chronologically in numerical sequence: (I) general provisions, (II) party membership, (III) party configuration and organizational structures, (IV) methods of intra-party elections, recalls, methods of intra-party decision-making and mandate durations, (V) IDS (parliament) representatives and councilors, (VI) assets and business operations and last (VII) transitional and final provisions.

398 “ (3) HNS može osnovati ili se udružiti u domaće i međunarodne asocijacije, udruge ili organizacije koje zastupaju liberalno-demokratska načela, u skladu s ovim Statutom i odlukama nadležnih tijela HNS-a.“ 399 “(1) Središnji odbor HNS-a: • odlučuje o povezivanju i suradnji HNS-a s drugim političkim strankama ili nepolitičkim organizacijama te učlanjivanju HNS-a u međunarodne političke ili nepolitičke organizacije;…” 67

Compared with other statutes under investigation, IDS’ statute is by far the shortest one, containing only fifteen pages, out of which eight pages (34 out of a total of 62 articles) are devoted to party configuration and organizational structures.

In terms of party statute Europeanization evidence, two open coding categories were found, just like in the case of HNS, making these two party statute the only ones with open categories. Furthermore, only two predefined coding categories of coding were found, containing four examples of party statute Europeanization, but only with latent context and properties. This means that IDS’ party statute contains six examples of party statute Europeanization evidence, four of them of latent and two of them of manifest properties.

Predefined categories that were found are the following: - Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration and - Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation. Open coding categories that were found are: - Party name and abbreviation in a foreign language and - International bank account.

Just like in the case of the four previous statutes, in the Annex of the thesis, there is a coding table of IDS’ statute, containing all found evidence and its transcription and withholding all predefined categories that were left empty id est that had no evidence attributed to them.

5.5.1. IDS party statute Europeanization Open coding categories that were found: party name and abbreviation in a foreign language and an international bank account point to current or future international presence of a certain political party and IDS’ possible collaboration with other international, or EU political parties. As it would be very difficult for a party to operate outside state borders without an official party name in a foreign language, or without an international bank account, having one listed in an official document as the party statute points out the intention of operating outside Croatian borders, internationally or in the EU territory, as well as collaborating with other parties operating in the mentioned environments. Of course this does not mean that the first three political parties under investigation that do not have such an international bank account mentioned do not operate and collaborate outside Croatia, just that HNS and IDS specify it.

First open coding example was found in the first section of the party statute, general provisions, in article 2, written like: The party name and the party name abbreviation in English language is: Istrian Democratic Assembly – IDA.400

Second open coding example was found in the sixth section of IDS’ party statute, assets and business operations section, in article 55, written like: IDS has a bank account for a foreign and a domestic currency.401

Examples of predefined coding categories found in IDS’ statute are a latent reference to the EU and a latent reference to transnational (European) party collaboration, each contain two examples. In the first predefined category – reference to the EU is found twice and in both cases an indirect reference to the EU is made, but the words “European Union”, its abbreviation or synonym is not mentioned. It is replaced by “abroad”. First example of this category is in the first section of the party statute, general provisions, in article 3, where it says: IDS operates in the Republic of Croatia, especially in the territory of Istria and the Kvarner bay, as well as abroad, if it is not contrary to the legal order of the state concerned, and if it is in accordance with regulations adopted by the Council of IDS.402 Second example of a latent reference to the EU is in the third section of the statute, party configuration and organizational structures, in article 29, where it says: IDS members or party supporters, at home or abroad, may operate in IDS’ clubs. The decision about establishing and about the activities of the clubs is made by the Council of IDS.403

In the second predefined category – reference to transnational (European) party collaboration is found twice with latent context, as it uses words such as “abroad” or “international”.

400 “Naziv i kratica naziva stranke na engleskom jeziku je: Istrian Democratic Assembly – IDA.” 401 “IDS ima račun za domaću i stranu valutu.” 402 “IDS djeluje u Republici Hrvatskoj, prvenstveno na području Istre i Kvarnera, te u inozemstvu, ako to nije suprotno pravnome poretku dotične države, a u skladu s pravilnikom kojeg donosi Savjet IDS-a.” 403 “Članovi i simpatizeri IDS-a, u zemlji i inozemstvu, mogu djelovati u klubovima IDS-a. Odluku o osnivanju i načinu djelovanja klubova donosi Savjet IDS-a.” 69

First, it is found in the first section of the statute, general provisions, in article 6 and in the third section, in party configuration and organizational structure, in article 36. In the first example it says: IDS collaborates with related political parties at home and abroad. IDS may join international associations of affinitive political parties.404 In the second example it says: The Council of IDS has the power of: - deciding upon IDS entering into membership of international organization.405

Since the latter is last evidence that was found in the last party statute under investigation it is once again important to bring up that when doing a qualitative content analysis as it is important to properly investigate all that certain content expresses, the same way it is important to notice everything that it does not. This means noticing everything that might be missing, and according to theory, should be there. In IDS’ statute, there are examples of either attentionally or mistakenly leaving out material. For example, article 8 in the party membership section, furthermore articles 18, 19, 30, 33, 36, and last article 38, all mention municipal, local, citywide or statewide candidacy selection and election procedures, but do not once mention EP elections or MEP candidacy selection methods406. Having in mind that IDS currently has an MEP, this opens some procedurally and transparency wise questions in regard with intra-party relations, same as in the case of HSS’ statute, and all the other statutes under investigation, just in other areas.

404 “IDS ostvaruje suradnju sa srodnim strankama u zemlji i inozemstvu. IDS se može učlaniti u međunarodne udruge srodnih stranaka.” 405 „Savjet ima ove ovlasti: - odlučuje o stupanju IDS-a u članstvo međunarodnih organizacija,…“ 406 IDS statute, Section II – Membership, Article 8 mentions that “a member of IDS has the following rights and obligations: - to be a candidate of IDS on the lists for municipal, city, county and state elections”. IDS statute, Section III – Party configuration and organizational structures, Article 18: “Head of a county municipality or a mayor or a president of the municipal or city council, if IDS members, due to its position, form instantly part of the IDS subsidiary presidency members”. Article 19 mentions how “the subsidiary presidency has the power to determine candidates for municipal or city elections”. Article 27 mentions how “the community of subsidiaries has the power to determine candidates for county and parliamentary elections”. Article 30 mentions how “IDS’s youth club has the right to propose candidates among themselves for intra-party, municipal, city, county and parliamentary elections”. Article 33 mentions how “IDS Assembly, after parliamentary elections, has the obligation to convene and analyze election results and declare it to the Presidency of IDS”. Article 36 mentions how “the Council of IDS has the power of naming candidates for parliamentary elections”. Last, Article 38 mentions how “the Presidency of IDS has the power of proposing candidates for parliamentary elections, determining candidates for county elections, and confirming candidates for municipal and citywide elections”. 70

6. Conclusion

This thesis, as its title implies, investigated Europeanization in the statutory content of five relevant Croatian political parties with the help of the qualitative content analysis. As this is the last chapter, one last at the thesis and to the empirical evidences found is inevitable and concluding remarks remain to be given.

The initial remark is that for some time political parties, as ‘carriers of the integration process’, ‘active actors in the integration process’ and ‘links between citizens and the state’, have generally been neglected in (Croatian) political science, especially in relation to Europeanization. The existing research that does mention parties and Europeanization cannot be compared to this one as Croatia was not yet an EU member state, the choice of parties under investigation differs, as well as the research area and the methodological tools.

Since parties have been neglected, this thesis also contributed by establishing relevant parties, last done almost ten years ago, all the way back when the party DC existed in Croatian political scene. For the ones following the scene that says a lot about party research neglect. Considering all, the contribution is also in offering new insight on party Europeanization in a new EU member state after enough time passed for research, but also in general party research.

Furthermore, the most important remarks are the empirical findings in five parties under investigation, which have proven not to be immune to Europeanization. All five showed Europeanization in their statutory content and without doubt answered the research question positively: “Yes, Europeanization can and is identified in Croatian political parties”. Each of their statutory content contained clear, unequivocal, direct reference to indicators of party Europeanization, but of course with somewhat different characteristics.

Characteristics of found evidence differ from statute to statute, logically, as parties under investigation are different in their ideological features. They also vary in time of amendments. The “latest” is HDZ’s from May of 2016, followed by HSS if one counts their third replenishment from April of 2016, and then comes IDS with last amendments in March of 2014 almost a year after EU membership. SDP comes in fourth, as they last amended in June of 2012 and HNS comes last with its statute from March of 2012. At the time when SDP and

HNS amended their statutes, they were the governing coalition, in whose mandate Croatia joined the EU.

Before advancing to different characteristics it should be noted that all five of them had commonalities. Most Europeanization evidence, as suggested by theory, was indeed found in statutory content devoted to party configuration and organizational structures. These sections also took up largest portions in all statutes. In HDZ’s 17 out of 30 statutory pages twelve out of the total eighteen party Europeanization examples were found in this section, in SDP’s 22 out of 34 pages seven out of eight total were found, in HSS’ 21 out of 31 pages seven examples out of eleven were found, furthermore in HNS’ 26 pages devoted to organizational structures out of 32 statutory pages ten out of eighteen examples were found and last, in IDS’ 8 out of 15 pages two examples out of six were found. Statistically HNS had the largest part of their statute devoted to organizational structures, but SDP has the largest portion of evidence stem from that section.

Another commonality is that four of them left out certain material out of their statutes which would qualify as party Europeanization evidence. Material expected in party statutes such as intra-party MEP candidate nomination and selection.

In HDZ’s statute only the Zagreb Organization officially involves MEP’s into party structures, while municipal, city and county organizations do not. In practice this may differ, but officially it is so. SDP on the other hand had a comprehensive part of the statute devoted to nominating and electing candidates, but does not once mention how they nominate and elect MEP’s, which opens intra-party transparency questions. Also, in the section of the statute devoted to membership fees, it seems as MEP’s are exempted from paying them. Just like SDP, HSS and IDS had clear instructions on candidate selection and nomination for county, city and municipal officials but not for MEP’s.

These missing categories bring out another commonality, which is that MEP’s were most referenced. Giving them most attention in formal party areas might leave room for further investigation in the second area if the trend of formal adjustments continues in their favor. Even the way it is works in their favor as they are the ones most represented out of all party Europeanization indicators. This is somewhat a surprise, as one would expect more references to the EU and not to MEP’s. Why this is so can only be speculated, but it might be due to all of them having MEP’s and because they relate to the EU through their MEP’s.

Further characteristic that cannot be left unmentioned is that it was noticed that only HDZ had a reference to European values, beliefs and ‘ways of doing things’. It was found nowhere else, which might indicate that besides HDZ no one yet identifies as strongly with the EU and that no one else yet acknowledges their European party level as much as they do, even though all five parties have MEP’s and Europarty affiliations.

Else was noticed that HNS’ and HDZ’s statutes seem to be ‘most Europeanized’, meaning that their statutes contained the largest amount of evidence that clearly and distinctly indicate party Europeanization. HNS had by far the largest quantity of manifest clear party Europeanization evidence, sixteen out of total eighteen, followed by HDZ whose ratio is ten to eight, after which comes SDP with six out of eight. IDS had only two manifest party Europeanization evidences and HSS had single evidence, found in the third statutory replenishment from 2016 and not in older statutory content, even though HSS has an MEP already from 2014.

Even though this data seems quantitative, its purpose is in revealing the biggest surprise of the research, which is party Europeanization in HNS’ statute. Not only have they the largest amount of evidence, but the evidence that is found is of manifest properties, leaving no doubt about their intent. They also had two open coding categories even though their statute was written and last amended before EU membership. It was anticipated that SDP and HDZ which held power for the longest time in recent Croatian political history would have more Europeanization evidences due to them adjusting to the new circumstances, European integration and EU membership. This was especially anticipated for SDP which was the ruling party in the moment of EU membership, but obviously their coalition partner – HNS, prepared better for the new circumstances and challenges which their statute proves.

IDS was the only other party which had open coding categories. This can point out that both parties want to emphasize their international presence and their business operations outside Croatian borders as well as their intent to be more internationally present. The other three parties under investigation had no open coding categories identified in their statute.

Concluding remark that remains is that Croatian political and party scene saw more turmoil in 2016 than in the entire period of Ivo Sanader’s 2009 resignation up until 2016. Four out of five parties held intra-party (presidential) elections, while IDS did that in 2013 right after Croatia joined the EU and the longest running party president in Croatia – IDS’ Ivan

Jakovčić, went to work as an MEP407. HNS held intra-party elections in April408, after them HDZ in June409 and SDP in November of 2016, while HSS announced the elections to be by the end of November, but then postponed it for January of 2017410411.

Two HDZ’s MEP’s returned to Croatia and took up positions of the current Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, while two more tried to position themselves as future party presidents, but so far have not managed. Due to all of this it is impossible not to notice the importance of researching parties and the trend of EU specialists and delegates returning home and taking up leading positions in their domestic parties.

Exactly because of this noticed trend and MEP’s undeniably getting more attention in formal party adjustments, new possible research areas emerge. Even in the second party Europeanization area further investigation can be pursued when it has been established that political parties have experienced Europeanization and it has been characterized in detail. The next logical research step could be to explore possible changes in practices and power relations within parties in favor of MEP’s or EU specialists.

The same can be done in current EU candidate countries – Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, FYROM and Turkey412 because it would be interesting to find out whether their EU specialists and delegation will soon get formal statutory adjustments in their favor as the integration and negotiations progress. Judging by HNS’ statute most statutory adjustments in favor of future MEP’s were done before the actual membership, so the same might be happening in candidate country’s parties as we speak. Furthermore, due to an asymmetrical position they are currently in, it would be interesting to compare current and future after EU accession analysis both in formal adjustments but in other party Europeanization areas too, for instance whether their intra-party power relations already adjust in favor of EU specialists and delegates, whether they have already started to adjust their party programs to be more ‘European’, has there been a rise of Euroscepticism in

407Available at: http://www.radiolabin.hr/novosti/233-savjet-ids-a-raspisao-unutarstranacke-izbore.html [Accessed December 1st 2016] 408Available at: http://www.vecernji.hr/hrvatska/ivan-vrdoljak-izabran-za-novog-predsjednika-hns-a-1076815 [Accessed December 1st 2016] 409 Available at: http://www.hdz.hr/unutarstranacki-izbori [Accessed December 1st 2016] 410 Available at: http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/biografija-davor-bernardic-predsjednik-sdp-a---458494.html; http://www.nacional.hr/unutarstranacki-izbori-suspendirani-hss-ovci-gotovo-nemaju-sanse-kandidirati-se/ [Accessed December 1st 2016] 411 Available at: http://www.vecernji.hr/hrvatska/beljak-iduci-tjedan-ukinut-cemo-neke-suspenzije- 1139901[Accessed February 2nd 2017] 412 Available at: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en [Accessed February 2nd 2017] 74

party manifestos, does the governing party adjust more to the EU’s conditionality or do they stay true to their own political program and policies and last, the most interesting research that can be pursued in candidate countries is to investigate their relationship with Europarties they want to join. Recently, joining European party families is a current topic and some candidate countries’ political parties have already gained associated member status, so how the relationship further progresses could be a good research pursuit.

Asking the same research question as this thesis does can be relevant in future party Europeanization research in EU candidate countries, since in Croatia it seems to have been asked too late and room for comparison vanished. Now, evidence is found but it can only be speculated why adjustments have been made in any of the party Europeanization research areas, but if one starts to pursue research all the way from candidacy, the whole Europeanization process can be monitored and accompanied with actual events leading the integration process forward (or backward) giving it actual context. If one did the same in Croatia before membership, today there would be an all-encompassing study showing the exact path of party Europeanization which led former EU specialists, EU delegates, Ministers of Foreign and European Integration, first MEP candidates to positions of power such as the Croatian President, European Commissioner, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and to other esteemed and governing functions, on the domestic and the European level, or on both.

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 Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Website: http://www.mvep.hr/hr/hrvatska-i-europska-unija/pregovori/ [Accessed on May 19th 2016] http://www.mvep.hr/files/file/bivsi-ministri/CV-Pusic.pdf [Accessed October 26 th 2016]  http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/2005/01/29/HRT0003.html [Accessed on May 19 th 2016]  Government of the Republic of Croatia website: https://www.vlada.hr/news/pm-sanader-pusic-hold-preparatory-meeting-of-committee-for- croatia-s-eu-membership-bid/15380?impaired=0 [Accessed on May 19th 2016] https://vlada.gov.hr/prethodne-vlade-11348/11348 [Accessed on May 25th 2016] https://vlada.gov.hr/o-vladi/clanovi-vlade/66 [Accessed on May 25 th 2016] https://vlada.gov.hr/o-vladi/clanovi-vlade/clanovi-vlade-128/davor-ivo-stier/19493 [Accessed November 25th 2016]  http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/sanader-za-jutarnji-savez-za-europu-je-strateski-cilj-a- ne-koalicija/246776.aspx [Accessed on May 19th 2016]  http://www.eu-croatia.org/politics [Accessed May 23rd 2016]  Law on Political Parties in the Republic of Croatia: http://www.zakon.hr/z/549/Zakon-o-politi%C4%8Dkim-strankama [Accessed April 3rd 2016 and Accessed June 11th 2016]  http://www.britannica.com/topic/political-party [Accessed May 23rd 2016]  European Union, Treaty on European Union (Consolidated Version), Treaty of Maastricht, 7 February 1992: http://europa.eu/eu-law/decision- making/treaties/pdf/treaty_on_european_union/treaty_on_european_union_en.pdf [Accessed March 25th 2016]

 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/20150201PVL00004/Legislative- powers [Accessed June 7th 2016]  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com(2012)049 9_/com_com(2012)0499_en.pdf [Accessed June 10th 2016]  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/accession_criteria_copenhague.html [Accessed April 7th 2016]  https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament- 2015/foreign-affairs/european-parliament/ [Accessed April 7th 2016]  http://konzervativci.hr/ [Accessed April 7th 2016]  Central Government portal of public data: http://data.gov.hr/dataset/registar-politickih-stranaka-republike-hrvatske [Accessed on May 19th 2016]  Direct link for downloading the Catalogue of registered Croatian political parties: https://uprava.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Pristup_otv_pod//politicke_stranke.csv [Accessed May 4th 2016]  http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/1945-1959/index_en.htm [Accessed on April 1st 2016]  Croatian Parliament Website: http://www.sabor.hr/zastupnici [Accessed November 25th 2016] http://www.sabor.hr/zastupnici-8-saziva-sabora [Accessed November 25th 2016]  Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Website's: http://www.hdz.hr/mi-smo/povijest [Accessed May 25 th 2016] http://www.hdz.hr/o-nama [Accessed May 25 th 2016] http://www.hdz.hr/tags/domoljubna-koalicija [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.andrejplenkovic.hr/ [Accessed November 25th 2016] http://www.dubravka-suica.eu/index.php/en/ [Accessed October 24th 2016] http://www.ivana-maletic.com/ [Accessed October 24th 2016]  http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/croatia.html [Accessed May 25th 2016]  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search.html?country=HR [Accessed May 25th 2016]  Croatian State Electoral Commission report from the 2015 elections. The results are available for download on the following link:

http://www.izbori.hr/izbori/ws.nsf/2F197AFC895013B9C1257F07004066B5/$FILE/konacni _sluzbeni_rezultati_Sabor_2015.pdf [Accessed May 25th 2015]  Social Democratic Party (SDP) Website's: http://www.sdp.hr/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.sdp.hr/o-sdp-u/struktura/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.kukuriku.org/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] https://hrvatskaraste.org/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] https://narodnakoalicija.hr/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.sdp.hr/nasi-ljudi/predsjednistvo/ [Accessed December 1st 2016]  Croatian People’s Party (HNS) Website’s: http://www.vesnapusic.com.hr/en/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.hns.hr/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.hns.hr/index.php/o-hns-u/struktura-hns-a/predsjednik [Accessed May 25th 2016]  Website of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS): http://www.ids-ddi.com/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.ids-ddi.com/ids-ddi/povijest/ [Accessed May 25th 2016]  Website of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS): http://www.hss.hr/o-nama/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.hss.hr/vodstvo-stranke/predsjednik/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.hss.hr/o-nama/ [Accessed May 25th 2016] http://www.petir.eu/o-meni/8 [Accessed October 24th 2016] http://www.epp.eu/member-parties/ [Accessed October 25th 2016] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124749/MARIJANA_PETIR_home.html [Accessed October 25th 2016]  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/20150201PVL00004/Legislative- powers [Accessed June 7th 2016]  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com(2012)049 9_/com_com(2012)0499_en.pdf [Accessed June 10th 2016]  https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament- 2015/foreign-affairs/european-parliament/ [Accessed April 7th 2016]  Croatian State Electoral Commission website: http://www.izbori.hr/ws/index.html?documentId=039CA1E2CE93551AC1257C5C004703E9 [Accessed May 16tth 2015]

 Table with information about the number of mandates for the 2011 elections is available for download on the following link: http://www.izbori.hr/izbori/dip_ws.nsf/0/A8889C1202F9CA0FC125797B0047D2DC/$File/re zultati2011_sumarni.pdf [Accessed May 16tth 2015]  http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/hss-odlucuje-s-kim-ce-koalirati-od-18-sati-sastaje-se- glavni-odbor-stranke---442622.html [Accessed November 25tth 2016]  http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/beljak-hss-daje-svoje-potpise-hdzu-ovo-je-kraj- mostovih-ucjena/920731.aspx [Accessed November 25th 2016]  http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/parlamentarni-izbori-2016-istarski-demokratski-sabor-i- primorsko-goranski-savez---447492.html [Accessed November 25th 2016]  http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/croatia.html [Accessed November 25th 2016]  http://www.radiolabin.hr/novosti/233-savjet-ids-a-raspisao-unutarstranacke-izbore.html [Accessed December 1st 2016]  http://www.vecernji.hr/hrvatska/ivan-vrdoljak-izabran-za-novog-predsjednika-hns-a-1076815 [Accessed December 1st 2016]  http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/biografija-davor-bernardic-predsjednik-sdp-a--- 458494.html [Accessed December 1st 2016]  http://www.seebiz.eu/picula-vjerojatni-nasljednik-milanovica/ar-142522/ [Accessed December 1st 2016]  https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en [Accessed February 2nd 2017]  http://www.izbori.hr/2013EUParlament/rezult/pdf/rezultati.pdf [Accessed February 2nd 2017]  http://www.izbori.hr/2014EUParlament/rezult/rezultati.html [Accessed February 2nd 2017]

7. Annex

Relevant political parties With the help of calculating effective political parties from primary413 and secondary414 sources, relevant political parties in Croatia were established. The manner how initially the data was chosen was already established in the chapter about Croatian relevant political parties (Sartori’s criteria, parliamentary presence and a temporal criterion of Croatian parliamentary convocations from 2000 – 2015).

To these three criteria, calculations about effective political parties were added, as an additional method and as a convenience due to the fact that for calculating effective political parties one needs to establish the share of mandates a particular political party held during a single or a few parliamentary convocations415. This instantly indicates parliamentary presence, as well as the temporal criterion of four convocations to the Croatian parliament from 2000 to 2015. The number of mandates even points out to some of Sartori’s criteria. Therefore calculating effective political parties in Croatia incontestably enabled a tabular view of all of the criteria of establishing relevant political parties. This tabular view is presented in the picture of a table below, which shows the number and the share of mandates that each political party held after the elections for the Croatian parliament from 2000 – 2015.

413 Primary sources are taken from the Croatian State Electoral Commission from the 2011 elections. The table with information about the number of mandates is available for download on the following link: http://www.izbori.hr/izbori/dip_ws.nsf/0/A8889C1202F9CA0FC125797B0047D2DC/$File/rezultati2011_sumar ni.pdf [Accessed May 16tth 2015] 414 The authors Bali and Podolnjak offer a table in their paper which shows which political parties had parliamentary presence and the number of their mandates in the Croatian parliamentary convocation of 2000, 2003 and 2007. Information for the 2011 convocation are not presented and are therefore taken out of primary sources. In: Bali, M., & Podolnjak, R. (2009). Utjecaj izbornog sustava na oblikovanje stranačkog sustava i Vlade u Republici Hrvatskoj 1990-2007. Pravnik, 43 (87): 51. 415Kasapović, M. (2003). Izborni leksikon. Politič ka kultura, Zagreb: 119. 87

In the end, the calculations of effective political parties amounted to 4.18 for the convocation of 2000, 3.19 for 2003, 2.74 for the convocation of 2007416 and 3.45 for the convocation of 2011417. The arithmetic mean of effective political parties in the Republic of Croatia, from 2000 to 2015 is 3.39, which somewhat concurs with findings about only five political parties with continuous parliamentary presence, and continuous alternations in power, mostly through coalitions (out of the mentioned five, all of them have been part of coalition governments).

416Bali, M., & Podolnjak, R. (2009). Utjecaj izbornog sustava na oblikovanje stranačkog sustava i Vlade u Republici Hrvatskoj 1990-2007. Pravnik, 43 (87): 52. 417 Calculations were conducted by the author of the thesis herself following the E = 1 / Σ s² formula and instructions provided by Kasapović and Bali and Podolnjak. 88

Political party coding scheme tables

HDZ’s coding table:

To directly refer to the European Union and its Manifest (6) HDZ is a European political party because it accepts membership European standards and sees the future of Croatia in Europe.

Section I, main provisions, article 3: (2) HDZ acts abroad as well, in accordance with the Rule book adopted by the Central Committee of HDZ, and within the framework of the legal system of the country concerned.

Section III, HDZ party configuration, article 15: (2) HDZ consists of basal organizations, namely party branches, municipal or city organizations and county organizations, furthermore it consists of Organization of the A1: EU and EU membership reference HDZ for the City of Zagreb and HDZ organizations abroad.

Section III, HDZ party configuration, article 28, 32, 37a: (1) HDZ acts abroad. (2) The structure and tasks of HDZ abroad are determined To indirectly refer to the European Union and its by the Rule book which HDZ organizations abroad Latent membership proposed to the HDZ Central Committee.

(1) HDZ's Central Committee consists of: d) 8 representatives who coordinate the work of HDZ abroad, in accordance with the Rules of procedure,

(1) The HDZ National Council consists of: HDZ Presidency, presidents of county HDZ boards and the HDZ Zagreb president, and three to five representatives who coordinate the work of HDZ abroad and three representatives of the HDZ Youth, which are the vice president, secretary general and president of the National Committee of HDZ Youth.

Section VI, particular way of organizing and operating in the HDZ, article 52: (3) HDZ Youth operates in Croatia, but can also get organized abroad. B: European level structures of governance (European Union institutions) Section II, party membership, article 12: (2) HDZ members elected as representatives in the Croatian Parliament, members of the European Parliament, and councilors in county, city and municipal assemblies, are obliged to give their mandate back to HDZ if they cross over from HDZ to another political party, establish a new political party or want to become independent representatives. These places are filled by their deputies.

Section III, HDZ party configuration, article 26, 30, 32: (3) Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament and Government members who are HDZ B2: MEP's Manifest Direct reference to an MEP position members due to their positions are part of the City council if they have residence or are elected in the Zagreb area. President of the HDZ Club in the City Assembly, the President of the City Assembly and the Mayor of the City of Zagreb are included into the City council due to their positions if they are HDZ members. President of the HDZ Youth and presidents of HDZ organizations, founded on the city level, due to their position are members of the HDZ City council of Zagreb.

(3) HZD General Assembly consists of: b) representatives in the Croatian Parliament and members of the European Parliament who are HDZ members, (1) HDZ Central Committee consists of: e) representatives in the Croatian Parliament and members of the European Parliament if HDZ members,

Section VI, particular way of organizing and operating in the HDZ, article 53a: (1) Elected HDZ members in the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia establish the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament within the framework of the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament. (2) HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament in accordance with the Program of HDZ and the decisions of HDZ central bodies takes up positions on the proposed acts within the framework of the European People’s Party Group adopted by the European Parliament. (3) On behalf of the HDZ Presidency proposal, the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament elects and dismisses the president and the vice president of the Club. (4) The President of the Club presents and represents the Club. (5) Members of the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament participate in the work of the HDZ Deputy Club in the Croatian Parliament. (6) HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament delivers its Rules of Procedure. Latent Indirect reference to an MEP position None. 89

C: European Parliament elections Section III, HDZ party configuration, article 37a: (3) The HDZ National Council, besides the tasks it has from paragraph 2 of this article: c) based on the proposal of HDZ Presidency decides upon candidates for presidential and parliamentary and European Parliament elections,

Section VIII, election nominations, article 58: Manifest Direct reference to the elections for EP The procedure for nominating on the national elections and the elections for the European Parliament and the elections for local government and self-government is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the HDZ Statute, and mandatory instructions are made by the HDZ Presidency. Latent Indirect reference to the elections for EP None. D: Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation Section VI, particular way of organizing and operating in the HDZ, article 53a: (1) Elected HDZ members in the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia establish the HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament within the framework of the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament. (2) HDZ Members Club in the European Parliament in accordance with the Program of HDZ and the decisions of HDZ central bodies takes up positions on the proposed acts within the framework of the European People’s Party Group adopted by the European Parliament. D1: Europarties (transnational political party federations) Manifest Direct reference to an Europarty affiliation Latent Indirect reference to an Europarty affiliation None. D2: Reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration None. Section I, main provisions, article 7: (1) HDZ cooperates with related political parties’ home and abroad. (2) HDZ enrolls into international associations of related political parties based on the decision of the Central Committee if that attributes to the fulfilment of its Latent Indirect reference to an (European) party collaboration programmatic goals.

Section III, HDZ party configuration, article 37a: (3) The HDZ National Council, besides the tasks it has from paragraph 2 of this article: d) decides upon election and postelection coalitions and other forms of cooperation with other political parties,

E: Reference to European values, attitudes, shared beliefs and 'ways of doing things' Section I, main provisions, article 2, paragraph 6: (6) HDZ is a European political party because it accepts European standards and sees the future of Croatia in Manifest Clear evocation to European values, attituted etc. Europe.

Latent Concealed evocation to European values, attitudes etc. None.

SDP’ coding table:

PREDEFINED CATEGORIES BASED ON THEORY PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLES (deductively formulated categories)

B: European level structures of governance Section III, SDP party configuration, article 40, 69 and 79: (European Union institutions) To the Main board sessions the following are invited: the president of SDP, the vice president of SDP, the members of SDP Presidency, SDP MP’s in the Croatian Parliament and in the European Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers coming from SDP, SDP party secretary general, SDP business director, president of the SDP Croatian Forum, chairman of the Central Council of SDP Croatia, president of the Business Committee, president of the Statutory Commission, the presidents of county organizations and the presidents of city organizations which are county seats.

The municipal or city council consists of the president, vice presidents and the secretary and the elected members. To the session of the municipal or city council, it is mandatory to invite members of the organization which are also members of Manifest Direct reference to an MEP position representative and executive bodies of local and regional B2: MEP's governments, representatives in the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, members of Government and the president of the SDP forum and the council and SDP members positioned at higher levels of the organization.

To the sessions of the county council, it is mandatory to invite county prefects and county prefect’s deputies, councillors of the county assembly, presidents of the city and municipal organizations, members of the SDP Croatia organization and representatives in the Croatian Parliament and European Parliament, ministers, deputy ministers and assistant ministers coming from SDP ranks, presidents of the SDP forum and SDP members which have their residence in the county area. Latent Indirect reference to an MEP position None. C: European Parliament elections

Section III, SDP party configuration, article 38, 41, 49: The Main board: • on the suggestion of the president of the board decides upon SDP candidates for the European Parliament.

Majority of the Main boards’ total number of members is necessary for deciding upon candidates for the representatives in the Croatian Parliament, European Parliament and upon the candidate for the president of Republic of Croatia. Manifest Direct reference to the elections for EP

SDP Presidency: • gives its opinion about the suggested election program and suggested SDP candidates for the representatives in the Croatian and European Parliament, about the candidate for the President of the Republic of Croatia, candidate for the Prime Minister-designate of the Croatian Government and decides upon pre- election and post-election agreements for the Croatian Parliament and the elections for the President of the Republic of Croatia.

Latent Indirect reference to the elections for EP None. D: Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation D2: Reference to other transnational (European) None. Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration party cooperation

Section I, general provisions, article 4: In pursuit of objectives and programmatic curricula SDP cooperates with political parties, associations and individuals in the Republic of Croatia and abroad. SDP may join international social Latent Inirect reference to an (European) party collaborationdemocratic associations and their alliances.

Section III, SDP party configuration, article 38: The Main board: • decides upon SDP’s international associations;

HSS' coding table:

PREDEFINED CATEGORIES BASED ON THEORY PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLE (deductively formulated categories) A: Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration Manifest To directly refer to the European Union and its membership None. Section VIII, party leadership - central bodies, article 73 and 79: The Main Board: …determines, on behalf of a proposal from the Presidency, the lists of candidates for the Croatian Parliament and the candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations A1: EU and EU membership reference Latent To indirectly refer to the European Union and its membership which Croatia is a member state of.

The Presidency ...proposes to the Main Board cadidates for the election of representatives into Croatian Parliament and all the candidates for all representatives in representative bodies of international integrations which Croatia is a member of. B: European level structures of governance (European Union institutions) Manifest Direct reference to the European structures of governance None. Section VIII, party leadership - central bodies, article 73 and 79: The Main Board: …determines, on behalf of a proposal from the Presidency, the lists of candidates for the Croatian Parliament and the candidates for the representative bodies of all international Latent Indirect reference to the European structures of governance integrations which Croatia is a member state of.

Section VIII, party leadership, article 78, paragrah 11: Manifest Direct reference to an MEP position The Presidency of the party is made out of: ... B2: MEP's Members of the European Parliament. Latent Indirect reference to an MEP position None. C: European Parliament elections Manifest Direct reference to the elections for EP None. Section VIII, party leadership - central bodies, article 73 and 79: The Main Board: …determines, on behalf of a proposal from the Presidency, the lists of candidates for the Croatian Parliament and the candidates for the representative bodies of all international integrations which Croatia is a member state of. Latent Indirect reference to the elections for EP

D: Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation D2: Reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration None.

Section IV, party objectives, article 5 and 17: For the purposes of achieving party goals and interests, HSS collaborates with other political parties and international organizations, if this cooperation contributes to the realization of the party program.

Specific organizational structuresof HSS are: organizational structures of HSS abroad.

Section VII, party associations, article 63: Members of HSS who live abroad, and are citizens of the Republic of Croatian, may establish party branches in Latent Indirect reference to an (European) party collaboration accordance with this statute, if they are in accord with party program documents and the objectives of HSS at home. More branches abroad join into an organization of the state concerned, and the organization has to comply with the provisions of this statute intended for county party organizations. The form of organizational structures, its operation and body branches abroad, must be in accordance with this statute and in accordance with the laws of the country in which the branch is established. Members and branches of HSS abroad have rights, obligations and responsibilities the same as the members and the branches of HSS at home, unless contrary to Croatian regulations and the regulations of the country abroad in which they have established a branch. F: Reference to EU party specialists or/and party delegation to EU institutions Manifest Direct reference to EU party specialist or/and party delegation None. Section X, Secretariat, article 95: The HSS Secretariat is made out of: ...the accounting and the financial department, the department concerned with Latent Indirect reference to EU party specialist or/and party delegation technical and organizational activities, the department concerned with international activities, and the department for public relations and the media.

HNS’ coding table:

PREDEFINED CATEGORIES BASED ON THEORY PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLE (deductively formulated categories) Section I, main provisions, article 3, subparagraph 2: A: Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration (2) HNS operates also abroad, in accordance with the law, this Statute, the legal order of the European Union and the state within Manifest To directly refer to the European Union and its membership A1: EU and EU membership reference which it operates. Latent To indirectly refer to the European Union and its membership None. Section II, party membership, article 10: B: European level structures of governance (European Union institutions) HNS member has the right and obligation: • to be nominated as a candidate on party lists for elections of Manifest Direct reference to the European structures of governance representative and executive bodies in all levels in the Republic of Croatia and for European Union institutions;

Latent Indirect reference to the European structures of governance Section III, organizational structures and party configuration, articles 23, 45, 64, 80 and 92:

(6) Regardless of the number of members, the composition of the subsidiary assembly is the following: • parliament representatives, government members and Members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS;

(1) County assembly is composed out of: • members of the national parliament, members of government, and members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS, coming from the area of the county party organization; B2: MEP's Manifest Direct reference to an MEP position Regional party assembly is composed out of: • members of the national parliament, members of government, and members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS, coming from the area of the regional party organization;

HNS Assembly is composed out of: • Members of the European Parliament from the ranks of HNS;

HNS presidency • on joint meetings, at least twice a year, analyzes the work of members of the Government, representative of HNS in the Croatian Parliament and MEPs;

Latent Indirect reference to an MEP position C: European Parliament elections Section III, organizational structures and party configuration, articles 56, 86 and 92:

(1) County presidency: • nominates candidates for the election of representatives into Croatian Parliament and European Parliament, in accordance with this Statute and competent authorities of HNS;

(1) HNS central party committee: • establishes the rules of nominations and elections for HNS party bodies and the rules of nominations and elections of members of the European Parliament; determines candidates for the elections for the members of the European Parliament;

HNS presidency: • proposes to the central party committee candidates for the election of representatives to the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, candidates for the future prime minister and members of the Croatian Government, and the candidate for the President of the Republic of Croatia;

Manifest Direct reference to the elections for EP Section V, candidate selection and elections, articles 136, 137, 138 and 139: HNS party presidency launches and announces the procedure of candidacy nominations for the elections for the European Parliament, at least six months before the elections for members of the European Parliament.

(1) The rights to nominate candidates for the European Parliament elections have all HNS party subsidiaries. (2) Subsidiaries point to their county branches substantiated proposals of candidates. (3) County branches of HNS select submitted candidacies in accordance with the Rules of nomination and election, and point them further to HNS presidency.

HNS presidency establishes the list of candidates for the elections to the European Parliament and instructs the party central committee on it, which then determines the final list of candidates.

HNS presidency appoints the election headquarters for the European Parliament elections.

Latent Indirect reference to the elections for EP None. D: Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration None.

Section I, main provisions article 3: (3) HNS may establish or join together national and international associations, associations or organizations representing liberal- democratic principles, in accordance with this Statute and the decisions of competent authorities of HNS. D2: Reference to other transnational (European) party cooperation Latent Indirect reference to an (European) party collaboration Section III, organizational structures and party configuration, article 86: (1) HNS central party committee: • decides upon connecting and cooperating with other political parties or non-political organizations, and decides upon becoming a member in international political or non-political organization;

OPEN CODING CATEGORIES PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLE (inductively formulated manifest categories) Section I, main provisions, article 2, subparahraph 1: (1) HNS is a legal entity, registered in a political party registry conducted by an authorized body in the Republic of Croatia, it has its 1. International bank account Directly points to (current or future) international or EU business related operations or possible party donations giro account and a foreign currency account, and in legal affairs with third parties it assumes commitment with its assets, i.e. its property. Section III, organizational structures and party configuration, article 118, subparagraph 2: Directly points out to (current or future) international funding of the party's Political Academy. The funds might (2) HNS procures funds for undisturbed running of the Political 2. Political Academy international funding also originate from the European Union Academy of HNS. Party presidency helps the Political Academy in raising the funds from other sources, particularly from international funds. 93

IDS’ coding table:

PREDEFINED CATEGORIES BASED ON THEORY PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLE (deductively formulated categories) A: Reference to the EU and its membership or/and European integration Manifest To directly refer to the European Union and its membership None. Section I, general provisions, article 3: IDS operates in the Republic of Croatia, mainly on the territory of Istria and the Kvarner bay, as well as abroad. A1: EU and EU membership reference Latent To indirectly refer to the European Union and its membership Section III, party configuration and organizational structures, article 29: Members and party supporters of IDS, within the state and abroad, can take part in IDS's clubs.

D: Europarties or/and other transnational (European) party cooperation

D2: Reference to other transnational European party cooperation Manifest Direct reference to an (European) party collaboration None. Section I, general provisions, article 6: IDS collaborates with related political parties home and abroad. IDS may join international associations of affinitive political parties.

Latent Indirect reference to an (European) party collaboration Section III, party configuration and organizational structures, article 36: The Council of IDS has the power of: - deciding for IDS upon joining membership in international organizations.

OPEN CODING CATEGORIES PROPERTIES OF THE CATEGORY EXAMPLE (inductively formulated categories)

Section I, general provisions, article 2: Directly points to (current or future) international or EU presence 1. Party name and abbreviation in a foreign language The party name and the abbreviation on the English and (possible) collaboration language is: Istrian Democratic Assemly - IDA.

Section VI, assets and business operations, article 55: Directly points to (current or future) international or EU business 2. International bank account IDS has a bank account both for a domestic and a foreign related operations or possible party donations currency.