Croatia
Executive Summary
The parliamentary elections slated for November 23rd 2003 saw a close contest between the Social Democrats (SDP) and the right-of-centre Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica - HDZ) of the late President Franjo Tudjman, now headed by Ivo Sanader. The nationalist HDZ claimed 66 seats in the 152-seat parliament compared to 43 seats for the SDP. Three smaller parties agreed to back Sanader’s efforts in the establishment of a governing coalition – the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), Democratic Centre (DC), and Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU). The HDZ leader also won support from four national minority representatives in parliament.
The end of 2004 was dominated by an active campaign for the presidential elections slated for January 2nd 2005. The first round was won by then president Stjepan Mesic, backed by eight parliamentary opposition parties, with 49.03 percent of the vote, followed by ruling HDZ candidate Jadranka Kosor with 20.18 per cent. The run-off of the elections on January 16th turned out a landslide victory for Mesic following his rival Jadranka Kosor’s clumsy campaign that failed to reach out to the centre-left oriented Croatian voters. Mesic won 66 % compared to 34 % for Kosor.
Upon assuming power at the end of 2003, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader declared the cooperation with the Hague International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as a top priority of the Croatian government, not only as a way of breaking away with past HDZ image of a war crimes instigator and primary protector of war criminals, but also as a prerequisite for the start of the negotiation process for EU membership. The Croatian government proved its credibility when on September 29th it provided the ICTY with evidence that Ante Gotovina was hiding in Spain, where he was eventually apprehended on December 7th. As a result, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte informed the EU on October 3rd that Croatia was indeed fully cooperating with the tribunal, thus fulfilling the main prerequisite for the initiation of EU accession talks.
After the positive European Commission Opinion of April 2004 on Croatia's progress towards accession, the European Council in June 2004 granted Croatia a candidate status. The European Council in December 2004 agreed on the opening of the negotiations with it on March 17th 2005 provided that Croatia demonstrates full compliance with the ICTY. However, in the absence of confirmation of such, the General Affairs and External Relations Council of March 16th 2005 decided on the postponement of the talks. Carla Del Ponte's positive assessment on October 3rd 2005 of Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal resulted in a EU decision for the initiation of accession talks.
The economic reforms carried out throughout 2005 with a view to coming closer to EU membership improved the business environment, which is increasingly attracting foreign investors after the commencement of accession negotiations and the now concrete prospects for joining the EU within reasonable time.
During the last two years, the Croatian Armed Forces continued the reorganisation process, which began in 2002. Now, Croatia is expecting to receive an invitation to join NATO, along with two other members of the Adriatic Charter - Macedonia and Albania.
Sources used for the profile: Croatian National Bank, Croatian government, Stability Pact,CIA World Factbook, BBC, Hina News Agency, RFE/RL