Progress written, not witnessed

Rule of Law Report 2025 – Croatia
European Commission: Rule of Law Report 2025

In its new report, the European Commission recognizes Croatia's progress in implementing recommendations, including more systematic responses to the Ombudswoman's requests.

But is this really the reality?

Can we talk about respecting and appreciating an independent institution for the protection of human rights of our citizens when:

• the Prime Minister publicly declares that he "does not want to listen" to a person he himself proposed,
• the Croatian Parliament has ignored annual reports on the state of human rights for years, and this year is only discussing the one for 2022?

We believe that the highest state authorities are discrediting and devaluing the work of this important institution for the protection of human rights and corrective work of the state administration. With their actions and words, they let us citizens know how important the respect and protection of human rights is in the implementation of their policies in our country.

We especially emphasize that the Ombudswoman defended the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia with her statements, when she clearly warned that the salute "Za dom spremni" is an Ustasha salute of the Independent State of Croatia and is not in accordance with the constitutional values ​​of the Republic of Croatia, which has been confirmed on several occasions by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia.

Therefore, we hereby give our full support to the Ombudswoman and the institution she represents!