Croatia and the EU: tyingSlovak ithea and knot the European Union A single-country study Sloga jači neskladof Slovakia ’otlačis nUpsiti on i the E United we stand, divided we fall 1 CoRe StuCoRedies StuIII dies2010 I II EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES - This page intentionally left blank - Country Report on the Republic of Croatia Croatia and the EU: tying the knot A country report on Croatia’s position within the EU Country Report Series – CoRe Series VII MA European Policy Studies University of Amsterdam June 2014 © Lai van Beek, Sophia Bout, Sarafien Hiel, Maud van Koeveringe, Linda Koning, Lucien van Pomeren, Merle Prast, Marieke Rozenbroek, Daan Stoop and Peter Wolfs. Alle rechten voorbehouden. 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ISBN: 978-90-807611-9-3 Table of contents Table of contents .............................................................................................................................................. i List of abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of tables, figures and boxes ................................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... xii Preface ............................................................................................................................................................. xiii Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. xiv Part I .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. History of Croatia ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 A brief history of Croatia until the 20th century ..................................................................................... 2 1.2 The First World War ............................................................................................................................................ 4 1.3 The Unification of the South Slavic people ................................................................................................. 5 1.4 The Second World War....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Tito’s Yugoslavia .................................................................................................................................................12 1.6 The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ..........................................................................................16 1.7 The disintegration of Yugoslavia ..................................................................................................................19 1.8 The rise of Milošević ..........................................................................................................................................21 1.9 The 1990s Wars ...................................................................................................................................................25 1.10 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................................27 2. The Culture of Croatia ............................................................................................................................ 29 2.1 Cultural Policy ......................................................................................................................................................29 2.2 Croatian Heritage Foundation .......................................................................................................................34 2.3 Croatian nationalism .........................................................................................................................................35 2.4 The Croatian language ......................................................................................................................................36 2.5 The Croatian identity ........................................................................................................................................39 2.6 Sports in Croatia ..................................................................................................................................................43 2.7 Stereotypes and self-stereotyping ...............................................................................................................47 2.8 Literature, architecture, art, film and music ............................................................................................50 2.9 Croatia’s gastronomy ........................................................................................................................................53 i 2.10 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................................54 Part II ................................................................................................................................................................ 56 3. Legal System .............................................................................................................................................. 57 3.1 The constitution ..................................................................................................................................................57 3.2 Administrative and Civil Law in Croatia ...................................................................................................62 3.3 Criminal Law of Croatia ....................................................................................................................................66 3.4 Competition Policy: Chapter 8 of the acquis ............................................................................................69 3.5 Croatian company law ......................................................................................................................................71 3.6 The relationship between Croatian law and EU law ............................................................................74 3.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................76 4. Human Rights in Croatia........................................................................................................................ 78 4.1 Croatia’s human rights provisions in compliance with EU requirements ..................................78 4.2 The situation of ethnic minorities in Croatia ..........................................................................................81 4.3 LGBT persons in Croatia ..................................................................................................................................86 4.4 Gender equality in Croatia ..............................................................................................................................92 4.5 Croatia and the European Court of Human Rights ................................................................................95 4.6 The problems with the judicial system in Croatia .................................................................................98 4.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 101 Part III ............................................................................................................................................................ 103 5. The political system ............................................................................................................................. 104 5.1 Political parties ................................................................................................................................................