an nu al report 2014.
March, 2015 an nu al report 2014.
2 Contents foreword 4 1.electoral system 4
Electoral law changes 5 Law on Referenda – an opportunity to improve or to weaken democracy? 8 Presidential elections – reminder of the weak links of the electoral process 9 Once more, low interest for the EP elections 10 International experiences 11 2.good governance 12
Public administration reform 13 Anticorruption Policy and Conflict of Interests 13 Access to information 14 LOTUS 16 Open Government Partnership 17 Participatory budgeting: “Watch out, the budget! Pazin” 18 On media 19 Public interest advocacy 20 3.active citizens and civil society 22
Platform 112: the Government has opted for status quo with respect to rule of law 23 SVI MI – A Croatia for us all 24 Educating citizens instead of subjects 26 In search of “a good economy” 28 4.croatia and the european union 30
Social Europe – a strategic investment, not an expense! 31 Support to the inclusion of the civil society in the EU enlargement process 32 The voice of the Croatian civil society in the EU 32 5.organisational development 34
GONG’s presence in the media 35 Financial and administrative management 35 6.financial report36
Balance sheet 37 Income and expenditure account 37 Expenditure per groups 38 Grant agreements income 39 3 introduction
The admission of Croatia into the European Union in July, 2013 was perceived by many citizens as a starting position which will enable, for citizens and politicians, the development of all potentials including democratic ones. The more sceptical among them were warning, not without insight into the processes inside the European Union since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, that it might not be like that after all. At the moment when a country becomes an EU member state – to be precise, after closing the negotiation chapters – it is considered to have met certain criteria and therefore brought certain policy areas to a remarkable level. The same applies to the rule of law and the rights of minorities, which means that reverse processes are possible without supervision. Even if an EU institution thinks it would be useful to criticize a member state, e.g. for the plunge of its democratic standards, there are no effective mechanisms to force improvement.
Events on the Croatian political scene in 2014, including the controversies concerning various referendum initiatives, the presidential election campaign, the wrangling over the changes of the electoral legislation and the destiny of other initiatives which GONG had initiated by itself or with other organisations, have shown that Croatia is a country in which it will be necessary to fight on a daily basis for the development of democratic institutions and political culture.
Hence, in the perspective of democracy, it will not be possible to take anything for granted. This is a major challenge for organisations like GONG, which are dedicated to the improvement of democratic institutions and civil activism, especially at a time when it is becoming clear that, because of the mentioned accession of Croatia in the EU as a ‘democratically developed country’, the supply of necessary projects for the development of democratic institutions has drastically decreased.
One thing is certain: among members of the organisation, there was no lack of enthusiasm, ideas, knowledge or determination for the realization of “democratic enlightenment projects” in 2014, nor shall they lack in the future. Undisputed is also the social reputation of GONG, and that is a very solid foundation for the attraction of funds which will not only enable the existence but also the further development of GONG.
Neven Šantić President of the GONG Council 1. electoral system
The year 2014, the year of European Parliament elections and presidential elections in Croatia, was marked by lively discussions about changes of electoral and referendum legislation.
It was evident that the legal framework on referenda has many flaws, which GONG has been pointing out for years, and that there are many possibilities for manipulation. In addition, the current electoral laws do not give more opportunities for voters to participate in the electoral process. These tendencies have indicated that there is a need to harmonize and consolidate all the relevant rules that will be valid for all elections and referenda, as well as the need to thoroughly reform the electoral system, something that GONG has been advocating for years. Such a reform would entail a greater influence of voters in the electoral process, standardized rules for the technical implementation of elections, modernizing rules concerning media in the electoral process, reshaping constituencies according to recommendations of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, redefining the composition and mandate of the State Electoral Commission, and repealing the passive voting rights of persons convicted for serious crimes. electoral system 5 Electoral law changes
In 2014, GONG presented to the Croatian Parliament its publication “New Electoral Legislation”, which contains analyses and recommendations for the improvement of the electoral laws. GONG’s proposals have been supported by the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Josip Leko, numerous MPs from various political parties, and Ivo Josipović, then- President of the Republic.
GONG has been advocating improvements of the current electoral law throughout the year, having in mind that they will not be possible without a certain amount of political will and consensus. Still, there was no apparent willingness to accept change on part of the two biggest parties.
Some of GONG`s proposals include: úú reducing the number of election constituencies, prohibiting the candidatures of persons convicted for war crimes and economic crime, introducing preferential voting and effecting changes in the electoral administration and rules concerning media coverage during elections. The aim was to increase the participation of citizens in political processes, increase the accountability of politicians, as well as the level of intra- party democracy.
Since the Croatian Government has not úú demonstrated the political will to change the electoral laws, GONG has started the initiative “If the government won`t, the parliament will”, which assembled a group of 29 MPs who had expressed the will to further develop electoral laws based on GONG`s proposals for reform.
During the summer break, a group of úú Croatian MPs including Jadranka Kosor, Gvozden Flego and Josip Kregar had been working with GONG to provide specific proposals for electoral reform, which were named “the lowest common denominator”, proposing them to a vote 6 electoral system
Electoral Commission, which would include more varied professionals and not only lawyers. Finally, an obligation of electronically submitting financial reports was included, so that the list of party donors could be easily accessible and the process more transparent and possibly linked to other databases, e.g. those of public procurements.
During 2014, the rules concerning media úú coverage of elections have finally been changed, enabling editors more freedom in covering electoral campaigns: debates were introduced for the first time during the presidential elections in late-2014. The Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System of the Croatian Parliament adopted only a small part of GONG`s proposals, including new rules on election silence, public opinion polls, advertising and regulation of media space. The rules adopted concerned only electronic media with national concessions during the electoral campaign.
GONG’s advocacy for changing electoral úú laws continued in 2015, when, at the beginning of the year, electoral legislation was finally changed and some of GONG`s proposals were adopted. These were: the prohibition of candidature for persons convicted for serious crimes, eliminating the institute of list holders, in Parliament in September. The proposals and introducing an obligation for parties included an introduction of preferential to collect signatures to run for office just voting with the threshold of 5% for a as individuals do. One preferential vote single list, giving voters a possibility to was introduced with a 10% threshold split 3 votes among preferred candidates within the list. Other changes were on a single list, eliminating the institute mostly technical and without substantial of lists holders, and a prohibition novelties, thus not enabling voters to have of candidature of persons who were more influence in the electoral process. convicted for committing serious crimes including war crimes and abuse of power, Following the case of ex-Prime Minister pending rehabilitation. Other proposals úú Ivo Sanader and HDZ, the importance included introducing the incompatibility of high-quality oversight of electoral of political functions (e.g. being an MP campaign financing has proven to be of and mayor at the same time), increasing great importance once again, especially the number of signatures required for after the Mayor of Zagreb Milan a person to become a candidate in a Bandić was arrested, being accused of single constituency from 500 to 1500 intransparent financing of his electoral signatures with an obligation for political campaigns. parties to do the same, an extension of deadlines for organising elections and strengthening the role of the State electoral system 7
The project „Advocating human rights by learning through work“ by GONG and the Association for Self-Advocacy has been awarded by the Zero Project initiative, launched by the Essl Foundation, which focuses on the promotion of rights of people with disabilities around the globe. The project is a good example of how persons deprived of legal capacity can participate in political and public life. The award was presented at the Zero Project 2015 Conference: Independent living and political participation held in Vienna on February 26-27. 8 electoral system Law on Referenda – an opportunity to improve or to weaken democracy?
In 2014, along with GONG’s efforts to GONG supported and joined the úú improve the “rules of play” for referenda, úú initiative of trade unions and NGOs “We there were several referendum initiatives. won`t give away our motorways”, which Two of them failed, namely the initiative was directed against the monetization meant to prohibit the use of Cyrillic of motorways by giving them into script in Vukovar, which was judged to concession. GONG helped in collecting be unconstitutional by the Constitutional the signatures, encouraging public Court of the Republic of Croatia, and the debate on the topic, trying to include referendum initiated by the initiative “In the public to participate, advocating the name of the family” about changing transparency of the process and securing the Law on Elections of Representatives against corruption risks. After 530,000 to the Croatian Parliament because signatures were successfully collected, the the initiative failed to collect enough Croatian Parliament decided to submit signatures. Trade unions also had the question to the Constitutional Court initiated referenda against outsourcing in for constitutional review. the state and public sector. After failed attempts to amend the úú Constitution in late-2013, in 2014, the Croatian Parliament initiated a legislative procedure on new referendum legislation. GONG participated in public debate on first draft of the bill, trying to warn of some flaws of the bill that might seriously hamper and discourage initiating referenda. The most problematic of these provisions concerned the collecting of the signatures in state administration offices, the possibility of changing the referendum decision by law after two years, and the transparency of financing referendum campaigns, because amendments to the Law on Financing Political Activities had not yet been in procedure.
It remains necessary to change the úú Constitution and the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court to cut down the number of signatures required to organise a referendum and to specify the conditions that make a referendum decision valid, such as introducing a procedure of assessing whether the referendum question is in accordance with the Constitution or not, and by instituting a quorum of votes in favour. electoral system 9 Presidential elections – a reminder of the weak links of the electoral process
In the electoral process, GONG focused on electoral rules concerning media coverage campaign financing and on the bodies responsible and public debates have proven to be a for organising and carrying out the elections. good way for voters to be better informed GONG invited all actors of the electoral process and more interested in the process, as (electoral boards and other election administrators, well as to help them make an informed voters, candidates, political parties, institutions decision. and the media) to respect the rules of fair elections. On Election Day, GONG provided voters with There were many reports on breaches support by taking anonymous reports of noticed úú of election silence during both rounds irregularities and by answering their questions on of elections, as well as accounts of Facebook, Twitter, by e-mail, and on the phone. unacceptable behaviour by some members of electoral boards. Many persons with The State Electoral Commission should, disabilities were not enabled by their úú in cooperation with the responsible electoral boards to vote in their homes. institutions, investigate all irregularities In the second round of elections, polling concerning intransparent financing stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina were of electoral campaigns. The changed open long after 7 PM, when they are supposed to be closed, because there were many voters waiting to vote, especially in 10 of the 15 polling stations located in Mostar. 10 electoral system Once more, low interest for the EP elections
The turnout to the European Parliament elections with the parties’ disinterest in mobilizing was low. Most candidates and parties did not put in voters to the elections, stating that efforts to make citizens interested in participating, political actors were responsible for and the media did not inform properly on current the low turnout because they created issues within the EU. Instead of a well-supported campaigns that were “empty” and lacking discussion on EU subjects, the pre-election political content, and did not give the campaign was used for labelling and name-calling, voters a real opportunity to act as subjects with each actor appealing to “the other side’s” of political decision-making. At the same lack of integrity – these were the findings of an time, the “silent majority” of citizens is analysis conducted by GONG and the Centre for also responsible for letting others make Peace Studies on media coverage of the candidates’ their decisions for them. statements. Less than one-third (28%) of all statements were related to topics that are actually In addition, mistakes were made again connected with the EP elections. It has been noted úú by some electoral boards in enabling that restrictive laws on media coverage prevented preferential voting, proving that the State the media from organising debates among the Electoral Committee did not educate most relevant actors, which would have helped the members of the boards adequately. voters to make an informed decision.
In order to better inform the public, the úú Platform 112 informal coalition of NGOs had organised debates for MEP candidates under the name “A different EUrope is possible!”. These debates emphasized the importance of creating a democratic European public sphere, sustainable development, dignity of workers, democratic governance of common and public goods, and uncompromising protection of human rights.
Platform 112, the Union of Autonomous úú Trade Unions of Croatia, Group 22, the Clubture association and Green Forum have presented the “Pre-election activist inventory for the EU by year 2020”, inviting all the candidates in the EP elections to support the proposals that promote more democracy, equality, security and sustainable development on the EU level, as well as on the level of every member state, and in the EU neighbourhood.
The turnout of voters in the 2015 EP úú elections was slightly higher (25.22%), in comparison to the year 2014 (20.84%). GONG expressed its disappointment electoral system 11 International experiences
In 2014 GONG participated in election monitoring missions abroad and developed cooperation with NGOs that do the activity of monitoring elections.
GONG’s observers participated in a trainings for the informal NGO coalition úú mission organised by the European “Under the Magnifying Glass” from Network of Election Monitoring Bosnia and Herzegovina on monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) in Ukraine. the General Elections. Cooperation with the Organisation for European Security and Cooperation GONG’s team, in cooperation with CDT (OESC) was continued through observer úú from Montenegro and CeSID from Serbia, trainings. conducted an evaluation of work of the “Under the Magnifying Glass” coalition, As a member of ENEMO, GONG providing them with recommendations úú participated in preparing the Strategic on how to improve the organisation of Plan and the annual Assembly of the work and monitoring of elections. network, and provided educational 2. good governance
Although the expectations were that 2014 would mark the beginning of public administration reform, little was achieved in this important area. Although initiated, the process of making the National Strategy of Public Administration Reform was kept behind closed doors, with the collaboration of a very narrow circle of institutions and interested public. GONG strongly advocated the process to be open and to create the prerequisites not only for the creation of a high-quality document, but also to ensure its wide acceptance and implementation. Given the insecurities of existence of a political will to initiate the public administration reform, GONG simultaneously tried to advocate for certain elements of good governance, those which we deemed were able to lead to improvements in specific areas. Among them, we emphasize the third cycle of research of transparency of the local administration and self-government (LOTUS), drafting the proposal of procedures for managing conflicts of interest in public duties, participation in the creation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy, participation in creation of the second Open Government Partnership Action Plan and educational workshops on public policy. good governance 13 Public administration reform
In 2014, GONG strongly advocated the initiation of a Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia held a press comprehensive public administration reform: completion conference, where they pointed out that without an of the National Strategy with the participation of all efficient public administration there can be no democratic relevant experts, a wider public discussion and attempts or fair society, nor a sustainable economy. In addition, to reach a broad and sustainable public and political via a public letter to the Government, the President and consensus, which would ensure its consistent and the Parliament, the aforementioned organisations called systematic implementation during the current and every for ensuring a wide consensus for the implementation future term of the Government. Unfortunately, the of the Strategy for Public Administration Reform until process of drafting the Strategy for the Development of 2020, and asked for it to be, upon its further professional Public Administration until 2020 was a closed affair, and preparation, discussed with social partners in the GONG has used every possible opportunity to change Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Croatia, such an approach. After a public discussion for the draft and directed to the Parliament, which would engage Strategy was opened in October, GONG, Platform 112, this and every future Government in its intense and the Institute of Public Administration, Croatian Law thorough implementation. This action achieved success, Center, Department of Public Policies, Management and and according to the suggestions, the workgroup Development of the Faculty of Political Science of Zagreb for drafting the Strategy had been widened, and the University, Croatian Business Council for Sustainable process of the Strategy’s making and implementation Development, Association of Croatian Trade Unions, starting in 2015 promises a good foundation for public Independent Trade Unions of Croatia and Union of administration reform.
Anticorruption Policy and Conflict of Interests
Starting from the standpoint that the purpose of interests. GONG’s proposition introduces innovative managing conflicts of interest is a timely recognition regulatory and self-regulatory instruments, which of risks for performing public duties, borne out of the promote the culture of individual and institutional simultaneous presence of public and private/special responsibility to uncover and manage conflicts interests, in the form of temptations – even pressures of interest, while the existing Commission for – to misuse authority and illegally or dishonestly Conflict of Interest would be charged with ensuring attain private benefits for oneself or connected the quality of functioning of this system. people, in June 2014 GONG introduced, with the In May 2014, upon request of the Ministry of presence of key representatives of the relevant Justice, The Council for the Development of Civil institutions, a policy analysis entitled “A step towards Society elected three representatives of the civil conflict of interest management – theses for drafting society – among which a GONG representative the Law on Conflict of Interest Management”. The – to the working group for drafting the new analysis proposed fundamental changes of the Strategy to Combat Corruption 2015-2020. Pivotal existing Law on Managing Conflicts of Interest. It recommendations and commentaries made in is crucial for the conflict of interest management GONG’s reports on the current anticorruption system to encourage all public affairs participants policy were adopted in the process of creating to take responsibility for their own interests and the new Strategy. The new Strategy emphasizes loyalties, as well as the impressions their activities prevention (instead of repression) through higher create about governmental institutions as a whole, levels of integrity and accountability on all levels instead of creating taboos. Therefore, building public of government, and the detection of corruption trust in governmental institutions is established as risks in certain sectors, which creates prerequisites the final goal of the conflict of interest management for making successful, efficient and measurable policy, with special care given not only to corruption, anticorruption methods. Detailed measures should but also to reputation risks, brought by situations be elaborated in the accompanying Action Plan, of potential, recognized and existing conflicts of whose adoption is expected in the first half of 2015. 14 good governance Access to information
Advocacy activities relating to access to information to Know Day. Despite the requests by the were mainly targeting the closed-off process of Open Government Partnership Steering enacting the new Act on Personal Data Protection Committee, the workgroup for drafting and the insufficient financial resources allocated to the new Data Secrecy Act did not include the Information Commissioner. the Information Commissioner or any civil society representatives. Professional secrets After the Office of the Information are still inappropriately regulated. úú Commissioner had been established in 2013, GONG was monitoring the GONG continued its strategic litigations positioning of this new institution in the úú in cases of denial of access to information Croatian political system throughout 2014. due to a professional secret or confidential GONG used various channels to promote an information, and with these enabled the increase of the Office’s budget, which would Information Commissioner to make a series enable the Office of the Commissioner to of important decisions (e.g. to what extent carry out all duties set out by the Right of the Catholic Church, due to its transferred Access to Information Act, from holding public competences, becomes a subject of educational workshops to hiring three the Right of Access to Information Act; inspectors to oversee the enforcement singular cases of conflicts of interests of the Act. Unfortunately, despite the or requests for access to information efforts of certain Members of Parliament considering the contracts for the supply and the request of the Committee on of legal advising services between the the Constitution, Standing Orders and Ministry of Justice and the law firm Patton Political System, the Office never received Boggs LLP). enough means for efficient work. In 2015, the expected budget is half a million kuna During the drafting procedure of the larger, but it is still one million kuna short úú Open Government Partnership Action of the most modest predictions of necessity Plan, GONG advocated for measures of for quality work. proactive publishing of information and publishing of data in an open format. On the occasion of the International Right During a panel discussion entitled “More úú to Know Day, September 28, during a than Transparency” – organised in the light round table organised by the Information of International Right to Know Day – Code Commissioner, GONG presented an for Croatia, Rational International and analysis of strategically posed requests GONG organised the CodeAcross Croatia for information. The objects of the 2014 hackathon on February 22. Computer analysis were contracts between public scientists, hackers and developers joined hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, the day-long hackathon, and jointly concerning clinical trials of products of worked on challenges and applications, e.g. private pharmaceutical companies in public one facilitating submitting inquiries for hospitals. Although the results have shown information to public authorities. that public hospitals do not earn, but even lose money conducting clinical trials, the GONG continued to support citizens Ministry of Health showed no interest to úú and journalists in realizing their right of change the current situation. access to information. Through the LOTUS research, current data on implementation Considering the strong resistance of secret of the Right of Access to Information úú services towards the Commissioner’s Act was collected from local and regional monitoring of the enforcement of the government: although there were Data Secrecy Act, GONG organised a protest improvements since 2012, 25% of the action in front of the Office of the National local and regional government units never Security Council on International Right replied to the requests for information. good governance 15 16 good governance lotus
For the third time, GONG and the The results have shown that despite Association of Cities in the Republic of Croatia úú the processes of democratization and conducted a research of transparency and EU integration, 74% of the local self- accountability of all local and regional self- governments are still not transparent: government units – all 576 of them. The research 28% local and regional self-government was conducted from the end of June to the units are in the “extremely intransparent” beginning of October 2014, and the results are category, and a further 46% are in the based on an overview of official websites, insight “intransparent” category. Among the into Standing Orders and Statutes, requests for “transparent” units we find 21% of all self- access to information and telephone calls to the governments, and only 5% are “extremely headquarters of the city, municipality and county transparent”. The municipalities are governments, as well as a survey form. The goals mostly to blame for this poor result, as of this research were to establish the actual level 88% were deemed to be intransparent. of transparency and accountability of the local On the other side, two-thirds of cities and regional self-government, compare the results and 80% of counties are categorized in with the previous results and detect trends, and the “transparent” category, although still finally, encourage a higher level of transparency of with substantial room for progress. the local and regional self-government. good governance 17 Open Government Partnership
The Open Government Partnership initiative (OGP) consists of 65 countries trying to make their respective executive powers more open, accountable and responsive to their citizens, through Action Plans and the process of monitoring their performance. In Croatia, the initiative works as an advisory body of the Government, which enables direct communication and cooperation of representatives of the Government and civil society in order to open up the government’s work. Although the implementation of the first Action Plan in 2014 can only be marked as being partially successful, since the measures of increasing fiscal transparency were never implemented, the process of drafting the Action Plan and monitoring its application in Croatia was from its beginning open to interested members of civil society and the public. Mostly due to the participatory process of bringing the Action Plan to life, last August, Croatia was chosen for the Steering Committee of the global initiative Open Government Partnership. During 2014, GONG actively participated In October 2014, GONG’s representatives úú in creating the second Action Plan of the úú were elected to the Steering Committee of Initiative, applicable for the period of the OGP, which testifies to the trust of civil 2014-2016, and advocated the inclusion society organisations and institutions in of a number of both GONG’s and Platform GONG’s devotion and expertise in the 112’s requests. area of openness and transparency.
In July 2014, the Government adopted In June 2014, joining Access Info Europe, úú the Action Plan, which, in accordance with úú Transparency International EU and the GONG’s and Platform 112’s priorities, Open Society European Policy Institute, included measures of whistleblower GONG became one of the initiators of protection, greater transparency of the idea that the EU itself should join financing referendum campaigns, greater the OGP initiative, already signed by 50 transparency of media ownership and EU organisations, and supported by the policies of proactive data publishing. The signing organisations of the “Pre-election new Action Plan consists of 16 measures activist inventory for the EU by 2020.” and 46 implementation activities, which will be executed by 20 national bodies in 4 key areas: improvement of the legal framework for realizing the right of access to information, proactive data publishing and data openness, transparency of public administration, fiscal transparency and contribution of the public in formulating and implementing public policies. 18 good governance Participatory budgeting “Watch out, the budget! Pazin”
Citizens of Pazin can take pride in having helped a strong educational component, as the to create their new budget for the year 2015: the citizens who were not directly included budget of the City of Pazin was adopted including in forums and other gatherings were still 19 communal actions, worth 25.000-30.000 kuna informed on the process of developing the each, which were publicly discussed by the people budget plan, as well as on its structure. of Pazin. These are the results of a project led by Participatory budgeting had an important GONG, in cooperation with the City of Pazin role in raising the level of political culture, and Our Children Society Pazin, with the expert building citizens’ trust in the local self- support by the Institute of Public Finance and government unit and improving the Association of Cities. communication between citizens and the bodies of self-government, a just KThrough an intense mobilization of local distribution of financial resources and úú civil society organisations, initiatives and social equality, with an emphasis on local government, citizens were included in transparency and responsibility. the process of planning the local budgets: 4% of citizens joined the process, deciding In October 2014 the project won first on 0,4% of the budget. Although at the úú prize as the example of the best method first glance these numbers might not seem of public involvement in decision-making significant, they represent an indicative in Croatia – awarded by Green Istria, step forward, especially given that more Friends of the Earth Croatia, Eko Pan and than 90% of the budget is pre-reserved ZEO Nobilis. for obligatory expenses. The project had good governance 19 On media
Another year went by in expectance of the national In celebration of the World Radio Day on Media Strategy and changes in media legislation. úú February 13, again in cooperation with the GONG continued to develop its own website www. Croatian Journalists’ Association, GONG gong.hr and to monitor the work of the media organised a round table on pluralism and within the Platform 112, with an emphasis on media ownership, based on GONG’s local Croatian Radiotelevision as the public radio and radio market analysis called “Bottlenecks of television service provider. local radios in Croatia”, which showed how questionable it is to what extent connected In April and May, a research of 117 radio publishers with largely identical úú journalists from different types of media ownership structures fulfil the need for was conducted in cooperation with the of media content pluralism, as well as their the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA). socially responsible role of local community They were asked about their experiences watchdogs. in communicating with public bodies and their perceptions of the authorities’ After the conviction for grave defamation openness. The results, published in June, úú of journalist and vice-president of CJA demonstrated great differences between Slavica Lukić, initiated by private clinic institutions, with many of the most powerful Medikol, GONG stated its support to public bodies proving to be the most closed exclude the offence of “defamation” from towards the media (e.g. Ministry of Finance the Criminal Code, asking the Ministry of and Government Offices). The research Justice, the Government of Croatia and has shown the existence of discrimination the Croatian Parliament to promptly start and favouring of specific media, in regard decriminalizing offences against honour to their popularity, influence, record of and reputation. criticism towards the Government and the (non-)existence of personal relations between the officials and journalists. 20 good governance After several unsuccessful appeals to The radio show Radio activist was broadcast úú responsible institutions to solve the case úú on online radio station Radio 808 from of the Director General of the Croatian March to June 2014. The show was started Radiotelevision, who ignored his situations to cater to the mutual need of Platform of conflicts of interests, introduced 112 and the independent Radio 808, as an inappropriate ways of managing bodies attempt to create an argumentative and and procedures and made professionally informational platform which will cover ungrounded personnel decisions, with the topics of the field of civil society, labour and support of organisations of Platform 112, labour rights, minority rights, public goods GONG continued to (unsuccessfully) appeal management, civil participation. Although against irrational decisions by the Croatian the concept of a non-profit community Radiotelevision, such as the elimination of radio was created on these grounds and correspondents. Equally, support was given supported by civil society organisations to independent journalism of Novi list working in the field of human rights, and Glas Istre, which were burdened with minority rights and youth rights, as well as multiple loans and warranties due to the an independent cultural and music scene, financial malpractices of the owner, who the concept was not accepted and the radio had acquired Glas Istre for two Croatian concession for the City of Zagreb was not kuna, and Novi list for even less, as he never granted by the Agency for Electronic Media. actually paid for it. This put Novi list – the oldest daily paper in Croatia – in jeopardy.
Advocacy for
public interest In a public discussion on the changes to úú Act on Strategic Investments, the Act was criticized once again and comments were The difficult economic situation in Croatia during made to the Ministry of Economy, which 2014 was the cause of many governmental acts were later not accepted in consultations with which often looked like hurried attempts of the interested public. patching up holes in the budget. After the failure to realize any of the strategic projects foreseen by Seven organisations of the civil society the 2013 Act on Strategic Investment Projects of úú (Croatian Youth Network, Right to the Republic of Croatia, which was enacted in spite the City Zagreb, Friends of the Earth Croatia, of a strong resistance by architects, urban planners GONG, Center for Peace Studies, Clubture, and NGOs, the Ministry of Economy prepared a Organisation for Workers’ Initiative and draft of “technical changes” of the Act and prepared Democratization) and seven trade unions for consultations with the interested public. The (two road trade unions – including the draft was characterized by GONG and Friends of Independent Road Trade Union and the the Earth Croatia as “a shortcut, attractive first Trade Union of Croatian Motorways – and and foremost to speculators”, or “a cover for the five trade unions centrals (Independent Trade Ministry of Economy to implement new disputable Unions of Croatia, Union of Autonomous contents, legalizing the Croatian status quo as a Trade Unions of Croatia, Association of country of inefficient government without vision Croatian trade Unions, Croatian Association or the competences to develop”. A similar effect of Workers’ Trade Unions, Workers’ Trade was obtained by the Government’s attempt to Union Association of Croatia) started a joint “monetize” motorways, by giving concessions for initiative for public goods management, and the management and maintenance of motorways through the referendum initiative “We will for a period of 30 to 50 years. not give up our motorways“ collected 530.853 signatures against concessions for motorways, which provoked a public discussion on the proposition of motorway monetization. 3. active citizens and civil society
In 2014 GONG has, by participating in initiatives and networking with other civil society organisations and other actors, reached out to citizens more than in the previous years. In the project LIBERA - supporting organisations in research and advocacy GONG collaborated with 11 organisations that are involved in the protection of human rights and assisted them in their analytical and advocacy activities, from advocating the rights of people with disabilities or mental illnesses to advocating interculturality and protection of the rights of ethnic minorities and rights of LGBT persons. Entering the last year of this government’s term, the Platform 112 has published the report Assessment of the Reform Capacities of the Croatian Government, 2011 –2014, in which it raised concerns and expressed regret over missed opportunities, which resulted in a decreasing number of people who truly exercise their rights and a further loss of citizens’ trust. Members of the Platform 112 have been especially active in two initiatives: Svi mi – Croatia for all of us and the GOOD Initiative for civic education. GONG has also continued to develop and implement its own educational modules of civil, media and EU literacy. active citizens and civil society 23 Platform 112: the Government 3.1. opted for status quo 3.1. with respect to rule of law
On November 13, Platform 112 presented its Report of monitoring the accession process. assessing the reform capacities of the Government with respect to the Platform’s demands, over the GONG also assisted in the formation of course of three years of the Government’s term. úú a new coalition to monitor the accession Since substantial improvements were made with process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through respect to only 16 out of a total 112 demands, a transfer of Croatian experiences and Platform representatives held a performance in front facilitating the coalition’s strategic planning of the Government, puncturing 96 white balloons. workshop. “Instead of turning away from the kleptocratic legacy of the Croatian Democratic Union, towards more On October 21, following an assault on democracy and a way out of the economic crisis, the úú deputy Minister of War Veterans Bojan Government has opted for status quo with respect Glavašević, civil society organisations in to rule of law, quality of democracy, protection of Platform 112 warned that the thin line human rights, public goods and dealing with the war”, between symbolic and physical violence had said the Report. The key reasons for such a state were been crossed, stating that violence could identified as being a lack of readiness and political will not be condoned. We all need public space to deal with partitocracy and clientelism. to discuss the varying interpretations of wartime events. Platform members warned As an addition to the Platform’s demands that “peace is not the uneasy silence of úú prior to the 2011 parliamentary elections, imposing the version of events written GONG used the EP elections to encourage into the Declaration on the Homeland the building of an activist inventory war upon everybody, but an exchange of focusing on EU-level policy alternatives. opinions based on facts”, going on to add Cooperation with trade unions and Group that “dialogue between opposing opinions 22 has been initiated. Many Platform 112 and research of the past without hesitation members took part in pre-election debates are necessary”. organised by GONG. The closest cooperation was achieved with the Centre for Peace Expecting the passing of the Law on financial Studies, whose members have conducted úú reporting and accounting of non-profit complementary activities focusing on media organisations, which maintained religious and hate speech monitoring communities’ exemption from reporting on income and expenditure from private During the drafting of the new Action Plan sources, Platform 112 warned that the úú of the Open Government Partnership, Catholic Church could potentially become GONG regularly kept Platform members (or stay?) the biggest tax haven in Croatia, informed and asked for their inputs. GONG even though 83 per cent of citizens who also took part in the drafting of Platform identify as Catholic think that the Church press releases and reactions pertaining to should start publishing financial reports on hate speech, hate crimes against Roma, its income and expenditure. issues of housing and the return of refugees, the media (public television restructuring), In order to achieve as much as possible in personal data abuse during a local political úú protecting human rights, achieving socio- campaign in Dubrovnik, etc. economic inclusion and resolving the most salient social problems, activists form civil In April, GONG held meetings with society organisations and initiatives, trade úú representatives of two platforms included in unions, the academic community and the monitoring the negotiations between the EU educational system had exchanged ideas and and Serbia: the PrEUgovor Coalition and the good practices in a conference entitled “One European Movement in Serbia, followed by step forward, two steps back” in December talks on the practical and political dilemmas of 2014. 24 active citizens and civil society SVI MI – A Croatia for us all
An initiative established in 2013 by the Platform With the goal of contributing to 112 and the Civic Committee for Human Rights úú intercultural and inter-ethnic continued working diligently in 2014 to create an understanding and the protection atmosphere of tolerance and understanding. of cultural and linguistic wealth and diversity, the SVI MI initiative cooperated Civil society organisations in the SVI MI with Nansen Dialogue Centre Osijek and úú – A Croatia for us all initiative organised European House Vukovar to organise a a press conference on February 3 2014, Day of Interculturality in Vukovar. At warning of the dangers of the ongoing the event, which welcomed diplomatic trend of breaches and denigrations representatives of several European of minority rights, calling for a countries as well as representatives of comprehensive and responsible approach State administration and civil society to the demands for a referendum on the organisations, a joint message was sent official use of Cyrillic script. The demands out that multilingualism is treasured in to put the use of the Cyrillic script to a Europe and is an imperative of European referendum was a harmful action carried cultural identity with its cross-cutting out by a group of citizens, which posed language borders, with many languages the threat of becoming the responsibility positioned as both majority and minority of the entire state and destroy the languages in various local contexts. reputation of democracy in Croatia, warned civil society organisations, calling The initiative presented a promotional the Parliament to put the referendum úú video in July, warning the public of the question to a constitutional review ; unacceptable occurrences of hate and should the Parliament fail to do so, they intolerance towards members of ethnic, also called the constitutional Court to use religious and linguistic minorities. The its position as a safeguard of democracy video, directed in cooperation with the and use the legal possibility of its own pupils of the Children’s Drama Studio of initiative to establish constitutional the Zagreb Youth Theater, demonstrates oversight over the referendum initiative. (in)tolerance through a group of children The conference also presented a of various nationalities playing a football detailed overview of international legal match. instruments for protecting the linguistic rights of national minorities that would Human Rights House and the Antifascist be breached should the referendum be úú League of Croatia, with the support of called, which was then submitted to Platform 112 members, organised a the Parliament and the Constitutional stand-in in front of the Zagreb Cathedral Court. Following the enormous potential in June, marking the remembrance of damage done to the rights of a number of the casualties of the Bosnian hamlet Croatian citizens, but also Croats abroad, of Ahmići, murdered in a war crime as well as the international obligations of committed on April 16, 1993, when the Republic of Croatia, the organisations members of HVO executed 116 persons, used the legal overview to appeal to all among which 32 women and 11 children. relevant international institutions – from The international Criminal Tribunal the UN, the Council of Europe and the for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had OSCE to the European Commission and qualified this massacre as a crime against the European Parliament. humanity and the former vice-President and member of the Presidency of the so- called Croat Republic of Herceg-Bosna, Dario Kordić, was convicted for planning and enticing the crime. However, Kordić active citizens and civil society 25
was hailed with ovations in the Zagreb Airport upon returning from serving his jail punishment, including being lauded by several representatives of the Catholic Church. After this shameful welcome for a convicted war criminal, activists tried to correct the injustice symbolically by giving quiet recognition to Kordić’s victims from Ahmići, with support from a number of citizens.
On the occasion of the 76th anniversary úú of Kristallnacht and the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism, members of the Antifascist League of Croatia and the SVI MI initiative called representatives of the authorities to make the change from commemorating Antifascism to actually working to counter Fascism and historic revisionism.
Roundtables were organised in Pakrac úú and Slavonski Brod by Nansen Dialogue Centre, the Serbian Democratic forum and the SVI MI initiative, focusing on the possibilities of advancing intercultural education and minority education, learning on the recognition of cultural differences and the contribution of various minority cultures ot the totality of the Croatian cultural legacy.
On the occasion of the Human Rights úú week in December, the SVI MI initiative organised, with GONG’s support, an exhibition and panel discussion entitled “Women’s NO to violence, war and exclusion of the 1990s”, exploring women’s peace activism in the region. The “Vrapčići” Association for the promotion of mental health form Slavonski Brod and GONG co-organised a theatre play entitled “Take a look into my life”, aimed at promoting de-stigmatisation, better understanding and acceptance of mentally ill persons. The play premiered in Slavonski Brod and was performed again in Zagreb in December. 26 active citizens and civil society Educating citizens instead of subjects
GONG continued being active in the coordinating democratic decision-making; however, body of the GOOD initiative for introducing civic it also points to the necessity of ongoing education into schools, made up of more than 20 coordination and cooperation between civil society organisations. An informative campaign civil society organisations and state for teachers, pupils and parents was launched institutions, including schools, to include to inform about civic education and problems in parents in the systematic introduction of its implementation. However, once preparations Civic education into schools, in order for for introducing civic education into schools in a Croatian pupils to truly learn to be citizens systematic and high-quality manner came to a halt instead of subjects. with the new Minister of Education, Science and Sports, who immediately gave up on the systematic Monitoring and evaluation of the approach and decided instead that as of school year úú experimental implementation of the 2015/2016, Civic education would be introduced Civic education curriculum was continued in a cross-curricular fashion, with only a minority within the project “A new era of human of interested schools to introduce Civic education rights and democracy in schools”, as an optional subject. Apart from advocating the implemented by Croatian Youth Network, introduction of Civic education as a school subject, Centre for peace Studies and GONG. GONG continued developing educational modules The underlying research and supporting for teachers in 2014 and has worked on knowledge advocacy activities were carried out in exchanges with civil society organisations and think association with the Research and Training tanks in Croatia and in the region. Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship of the Faculty of Humanities Croatian Youth Network, Centre for Peace and Social Sciences in Zagreb and the úú Studies and GONG jointly organised a National Center for External Evaluation conference in Vukovar entitled “I know, I of Education. The Ministry of Education, think, I participate” in January, where they Minister of Education, Science and Sports presented the results of the research of and the Croatian Education and Teacher experimental implementation of the Civic Training Agency have been known to education curriculum in 12 elementary change the subjects and model of Civic and secondary schools (research authored education on their own, disregarding by Vedrana Spajić Vrkaš). The results show the recommendations of the expert a low level of knowledge among students: working group, as well as the results of barely more than one-third (35%) know the experimental implementation and that civic virtue means care for the public discussion, thereby denigrating interests of a political community, just as democratic procedures and ignoring the many (33%) relate the term with holding opinions of teachers, students and the civil rights, one-fifth (22%9 with civic overall interested public. behaviour and one tenth (9%) with voting in elections. Still, it is encouraging to learn At a press conference on July 22, that one-quarter of elementary school úú representatives of the GOOD initiative students who had taken experimental demanded the resignation of Vinko Civic education in the fourth grade had Filipović, head of the Croatian Education stated that the subject had helped them and Teacher Training Agency, as well as that to improve their self-image and relations of other representatives of the Ministry with others; ten per cent attributed their and Government responsible for the lack personal development to the acquisition of a high-quality and systematic approach of new knowledge and skills. This points to the introduction of Civic education in to the potential of the Civic education schools and the intransparency of the curriculum to – despite its shortcomings process. The organisations warned that – start transforming schools into sites of the mode of work demonstrated up to active citizens and civil society 27
that point demonstrated irresponsibility councils from seven elementary schools towards teachers and pupils, making the and two secondary schools from the process of experimental implementation Makarska area. and its monitoring pointless. In June, the first educational module of The Croatian Youth Network and GOOD úú GONG’s “Education for civic literacy” úú initiative organised a performance in was held for interested teachers in Zadar. front of the Government on August 12 – The main subjects were political literacy International Youth Day. The performance, and the understanding of democratic entitled “Youth before a glass wall” processes. With Croatia’s membership was meant to warn of the necessity of in the EU, each Croatian citizen also introducing Civic education into formal became an EU citizen, and understanding education as a school subject and not just institutions and mechanisms in EU politics a cross-curricular topic. The Ministry’s became a part of civic literacy just as much decision to introduce Civic education only as understanding domestic institutions as a cross-cutting topic has been criticised and decision-making mechanisms is. EU as indefensible and harmful. institutions, decision-making processes, separation of powers between the EU and In December, GONG organised a workshop the members states and the reach extent úú in the Stjepan Ivičević Elementary School of the EU’s powers – these are just some in Makarska, with the title “Youth and of the topics covered in Zagreb as part of active citizenship”. The key topics of the second module of GONG’s educational the workshop were how to create young workshops, entitled “EU literacy”, held for people’s own activities and how to associate the same group of teachers. In December, with others in solving problems recognised they were offered the opportunity to as salient within a local community. The attend the third in the series of workshops, workshop brought together student “Media literacy”. 28 active citizens and civil society
In search of “a good economy”
During 2014, GONG’s work had strong incentives Ethical banks – “candles in the dark of to touch upon socio-economic issues, since it úú the financial supermarket”: the first became evident that the crisis of the economic ethical bank in Croatia should be be the system is leading to inequalities that are increasingly financial backbone of a developmental manifesting themselves as political inequalities. economy based in solidarity, made up of GONG made its contribution as part of the “We won’t a network of strong local communities, give away our motorways” referendum initiative, developmentally-oriented companies and by supporting the founding of the Cooperative for civil society organisations, all of whom ethical finance, by participating in the drafting of the work to ensure people’s quality of life Law on financial reporting and accounting of non- through processes of real economy. The profit organisations and the National Strategy for the starting move in founding the Ethical development of social entrepreneurship. bank was made at the founding conference of the Cooperative for ethical finance, GONG participated in the “We won’t where GONG had also participated. As úú give away our motorways” referendum an introduction to the conference, a initiative, since the issue was caused by round table entitled “Principles of ethical a blatant disregard for the principles of banking” was held at the Mimara Museum good governance, with short-term profit in Zagreb, organised by the Friedrich obviously being preferred to long-term Ebert Foundation and the League for economic interests. innovative banking and sustainable development. GONG participated in the drafting of the úú Law on financial reporting and accounting GONG’s representatives participated in of non-profit organisations, proposing úú a cross-ministerial and cross-sectoral limiting the definition of economic working group, led by the Ministry of activity for non-profits, introducing Labour and the Pension System, to draft obligations of more precise reporting the National Social Entrepreneurship on the allocation of surplus income and Development Strategy 2013-2020. strengthening inspection oversight over Despite the diligence of the participants, the finances of non-profit organisations. lively discussions and consensus within In cooperation with a number of civil the working group, the adoption of the society organisations, GONG warned – Strategy has been bumped back a year though unsuccessfully – of the harmful and a half and has not occurred yet. The exemptions for religious communities Strategy is a basis for drawing funds which threatens to create a multi-billion from the European Social Fund and Croatian kuna grey area and a heightened the establishment of a number of new risk of money laundering. financing instruments, such as a guarantee fund, credit lines, tax cuts and greener, more sensitive public procurements. It seems that it is still possible to expect a green light form the Minister of Finance, so that the Fall of 2015 might see new possibilities for all those who care about creative synergy between the economy, society and the environment. 4. croatia and the european union croatia and the european union 31 Social Europe – a strategic investment, not an expense!
Together with other civil society organisations, including the trade unions, GONG has questioned and opened public discussions regarding the insufficient democratic development at the European Union level, which has implications for the social nature of Europe, advocating for more space for citizens’ involvement.
Platform 112, Alliance of trade unions by GONG and Union of Autonomous úú of Croatia, Group 22, Clubture, and the Trade Unions of Croatia in cooperation Green Forum have presented the „Pre- with the Centre for Peace Studies and the election activist inventory for EU until Group 22, shortly before the elections it 2020“, which suggests alternatives and has been announced that a turning point policy innovations aiming to promote is needed in the form of a new social more democracy, more security and contract which will aim for sustainability. sustainable development in the new As it has been pointed out: „If it is not term of the European Parliament and the social, EUrope serves no purpose“. European Commission; the organisations invited MEP candidates to state whether GONG has supported the campaign they support the suggestions and how úú against excessive lobbyist influence of they intend to promote them in the realm banks and big business, a campaign which of European politics. was initiated by the ALTER-EU network (Alliance for transparency of lobbying and At the thematic debate about possibilities ethical regulation). Through the website úú of renewing the European social model politicsforpeople.eu/croatia/, citizens during the forthcoming new term of the could contact their MEP candidates European Parliament and the European and request them to promote citizens’ Commission, which has been organised interests and democracy.
Support to the inclusion of the civil society in the EU enlargement process
GONG’s member in the European Economic dialogue and building of institutional capacities, and Social Committee, Ms. Marina Škrabalo, has and all that should affect the financing of pre- initiated an own opinion entitled „Strengthening of joining assistance, as stated in the opinion of the transparency and inclusiveness of the EU accession EESC adopted during 500 th session on July 9 and process “. There is a requirement for stronger 10, 2014. In the mentioned opinion, some of the key political integration concerning negotiations, facts have been outlined together with experience encouraging the development of civil society, civil regarding the policies of widening of the EU in the 32 croatia and the european union last five years, and has called for identification of all beginning of June representatives of key documents relevant to the negotiations process. GONG and colleagues from the Center Besides, Marina Škrabalo has became a member of for peace studies have jointly facilitated a Joint Consulting Comitee (JCC) for Serbia, a body workshop for strategic planning of activist that gather representatives of civil society, social coalition from Bosnia and Herzegovina partners and independent experts on the topic of which has been trying to use the process Serbia’s negotiations with EU. of European integration and to question the actual policies of EU towards Bosnia. Also, it a meeting was held in April with Gong has attended the conference the coalition PREUgovor from Serbia, úú „Openness of the Parliament and it’s which is following the process of Serbia cooperation with the civil society“ which joining the EU. has been held in the National Assembly in Belgrade on 12 November (koje In October, in Zadar, a school of policy godine), organised by the association úú analysis has been held, processing a topic CRTA, and with the support of the regarding the role of social movements in OESS. The conference attended by policy processes. Theoretical overviews the representatives of the parliament, and debates were combined with mutual officials of the National Assembly and discovering of the best regional and the representatives in the international wider practices, analysis of factors of organisations , organisations of civil success related to organisation, public society , medias, and the representatives communications and building of wide of GONG have presented the experience coalitions. The school has assembled of Croatia concerning the process of 26 participants from Croatia, Slovenia, Croatia’s joining the EU, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, conclusions of the ‘Opinion’ of the EESC. Serbia and Macedonia. GONG has transferred the experience úú of Platform 112 to colleagues from the civil societies from the region: on the
4.3. The voice of the Croatian civil society in the EU
During 2014 GONG has continued to work on During 2014. GONG has actively networking and promotion on the level u EU. úú participated in the foundation of the Beside the fact that the representative of GONG, Platform for International civil solidarity with support of Platform 112, has participated of Croatia (CROSOL), the central in the work of the Europan economic and social platform of civil society for the area of committee, GONG has joined the informal international developing cooperation. networks of European civil forum and coalition The platform CROSOL was founded in ALTER-EU and it was one of the initiators of February of this year, and in June it the idea of joining EU through the initiative of became a member of CONCORD a main Partnership for open power, and in Croatia it has association of European platforms. When initiated platform CroSOL for International civil the Platform was presented to the public solidarity of Croatia which has ties with European it was emphasized that the purpose network CONCORD. of the international cooperation for croatia and the european union
development is a long-term fight against GONG has agreed with the members poverty and encouraging sustainable of the coordination ALTER-EU on joint development in poor and post conflict activities during 2015 and 2016, mostly countries and societies all over the world, focused on the campaign for increased and which can’t be confused with the transparency of lobbying in the EU. short-term humanitarian help. GONG has, together with Access Info GONG has become a member of European úú Europe, Transparency International úú Civic Forum (ECF). In November 2014 EU and Open Society European Policy ECF has started a working group for Institute, invited the new elected civic education, and GONG was offered a leadership of EU to commit EU place of one of the co-chairs. GONG has institutions to strong engagement and accepted that offer, and the coordinator potential membership in the Partnership for the education programs has for open power (POP). In an open letter participated on a meeting which was held which was signed by 50 organisations in Rome in December. The common pilot from all the EU, it was highlighted that research and development of informal the participation in POP encourages programs was discussed. EU institutions to preserve the scale of standard transparency and political After the successful cooperation responsibility which they demand for úú during the campaign for the elections countries in or out of the EU. That kind of for European Parliament, GONG work could bring closer the EU to citizens has continued contacts with the pan and increase the credibility of EU in third European network ALTER-EU, and at countries were it promotes the policies of the end of the year it officially joined the strengthening citizen’s influence and the network. At the work meeting in Brussels increase of the quality of power. 5. organisational development
Again in 2014, GONG has functioned as a knowledge hub in the fields of democratization and active citizenship and was also recognized as a relevant stakeholder related to electoral processes, good governance and active citizenship, all of which was achieved thanks to the synergy of the research, legal, communications and educational teams and the support of the administrative staff.
Despite serious challenges in terms of funding, GONG has developed strategies which ensured 25% of its budget through various forms of self- financing: the accounting service GRIF, providing training, consulting and professional services. organisational development 35 GONG’s presence in the media
In addition to an ongoing strong presence in the www.gong.hr published 471 articles, media, with 1.294 different media appearances úú of which 331 are authored texts and has recorded in 2014, GONG has continued recorded 135.212 single visits developing the gong.hr web page in accordance The Facebook profilewww.facebook. with professional journalism standards, and has úú com/gong.hr had 3.438 followers by the applied in February for an entry in the Register of end of 2014 electronic publications of the Agency for Electronic The Twitter profile profil twitter.com/ Media. Together with profiles on social networks úú GONG_hr had 1.885 followers Facebook and Twitter, gong.hr has now become an The monthly newsletter in Croatian had important source of information on socio-political úú 1.549 subscribers and the bimonthly processes in Croatia and beyond. newsletter in English had 370 subscribers.
Financial and administrative management
To ensure the funding necessary for unimpeded intellectual services, monitoring of election work, GONG diversified its sources of income. 78% and referendum processes). Members of of income comes from grant agreements which the Council and the Supervisory Board are spent on dedicated project expenses, and the worked voluntarily and the employed staff rest comes from self-financing activities. Among voluntarily contributed to numerous civil the grant agreements, the most significant share society actions and campaigns in 2014. comes from European funds and the Open Society Foundations. GONG’s office is situated in a locale GONG contributed a total of 1.072.346,69 owned by the City of Zagreb and is being used based úú Croatian kuna to the State budget, and on the Decisions and Criteria on temporary use of contracted 320.000,00 kuna from the State City-owned locales. budget in 2014 for the execution of project activities which are to be carried out during GONG is the owner of the company Grif Ltd., which 2015, and are funded by the Ministry of is not conducting business and has no real estate, Culture and the Ministry of Foreign and vehicles or stock in its property. European Affairs. Funds received from the State budget were roughly 3 times - A total of 16 people were employed on 18 less than what GONG contributed to úú work places, with an average net salary of the State budget. Overall, GONG made 6.184,87 Croatian kuna, which is lower by 22% of its income through self-financing 11% than the previous year. 16 employees activities (1.011.345 Croatian kuna), have a university degree, 11 employees which is 15% more than the previous year. were employed as program staff, and With increased investment in organising 2 persons worked through vocational specific study visits and providing training without employment. consulting services, the increase in funds was also achieved through an increase GONG had 40 volunteers who worked a of the number of customers of the GRIF úú total of 1.276 volunteer hours in different accounting service by 33%. types of activities (administrative and 36
6.financial report organisational development 37 Balance sheet
ASSETS 2014 Financial assets 669.715,00 Non-financial assets 75.879,00 Total assets 745.594,00 LIABILITIES 2014 Commitments 793.729,00 Own resources -48.135,00 Total liability 745.594,00
Income and expenditure account
INCOME 2014 Income from the budget of the Republic of Croatia 9.863,00 Government of the Republic of Croatia Office for Cooperation with NGOs EU project co-financing funds 0 Grant agreements income 3.457.395 Membership fees 2.630 Citizens’ donations income 29.551 Income from provision of intellectual services 440.565 Income from provision of accounting and financial services 570.780 Financial assets income 26.342 Total income 4.537.126 EXPENDITURE 2014 Expenditure for employees 2.206.674 Material expenditure and amortisation 1.549.336 Grant transfers to partners 343.504 Financial expenditure 56.395 Other expenditure 0 Total expenditure 4.155.909 Income deficit 2014 381.217 Transferred revenue surplus from 2013 -429.352 -48.135
Income deficit to be covered in the upcoming period* EIDHR, CENZURA +, MMH). CAT, final instalments unpaid the projects by of EU (IPA be covered *to to organisations, linked Article the of non-profit grants to accounting the on According 20 of Directive the recognised agreementssheet by balance in the are as a delayed (projects activities) and programs covered with section along recognition the of income income in the reporting the period with of costs the in ratio (projects activities) and programs the implementing stipulated in Agreements. 38 organisational development Income
Open society Foundation National Foundation for Civil Society Development EU funds State budget (Ministry of Culture) Other donors Intellectual services and other sources
Expenditures by groups
PAYROLLS Net employee payrolls 1.231.312 OTHER EXPENDITURE FOR EMPLOYEES Payroll - taxes, contributions and deductions 975.362 Total payroll 2.206.674 OTHER EXPENDITURES Office rent 23.400 Overhead expenses 71.115 Communication (Internet, telephone, postal services) 93.381 Office material and other material expenditure 60.370 Amortisation and maintenance 72.049 Accounting, law and public notary services 76.397 IT services 134.412 Financial expenditures and bank services 55.520 Transportation fee for daily commuting to work 9.360 Intellectual services 41.557 Students’ contracts 18.902 Honorary (authorship, piece work agreement) 145.926 Translation and proofreading 39.102 Audio, video and printed materials 295.625 Travel costs for employees 83.184 Travel costs for other persons 187.653 Rental of facilities for public events 53.107 Representation, membership fees, participation fees 52.541 Grant transfers to partners 343.504 Other costs 92.130 Total other expenditures 1.949.235 Total expenditures 4.155.909 organisational development 39 Grant agreements income
GRANT AGREEMENTS INCOME 2014 Open Society Foundation 1.248.059 National Foundation for Civil Society Development 474.757 EU Funds 1.581.347 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 0 Balkan Trust for Democracy 0 Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands 0 Other donors 221.618 Total grant agreements income 3.525.781
SELF-FINANCING INCOME 2014 Intellectual and other services 440.565 Financial and accounting services 570.780 Other income Total self-financing income 1.011.345
Grant agreements income and self-financing income 2014
Open society Foundation
National Foundation for Civil Society Development
EU funds
State budget (Ministry of Culture)
Other donors
Intellectual services and other sources 40 Trg bana Josipa Jelačića 15/IV 10000 Zagreb, Croatia T: +385 1 4825 444 F: +385 1 4825 445 E: [email protected]