Assessing measures taken by Croatia to implement recommendations that had been made in 2014, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) regrets that its recommendation to the Croatian Parliament to adopt a code of conduct for its members still has not been realized.

The country’s “Anticorruption Strategy 2015-2020” set the last quarter of 2015 as a deadline to adopt such a code, but the draft is lingering in Parliament, according to a new compliance report published today (see the Croatian version of the report).

Furthermore, the government’s Commission for the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest has been playing a proactive role in recent years to support and advise parliamentarians on the fulfilment of their obligations under the Act on Prevention of Conflicts of Interests. In relation to this key piece of legislation, GRECO was informed of related amendments and asked the government of Croatia to provide assurance that any intended reform in this domain does not represent a backward step to prevent corruption.

Regarding the judiciary, a legislative package was adopted in July 2018 to enhance its transparency and accountability, but more clarity and objectivity is required in connection with the respective appointment systems of the President of the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General which lie in the hands of Parliament and the Government.

Recommendations to better scrutinize financial declarations of judges and prosecutors have been partly implemented. More particularly, the operability of an IT system that allows for automated cross checks of financial declarations and information exchange among different authorities is expected this year, but has not yet been realized.

Because six out of 11 recommendations have yet to be implemented, GRECO asks Croatia to report back on progress by the end of September this year.