Croatia: Systemic Approach Still Lacking
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In the 1990s, the official policies towards non-governmental organizations were marked with suspicion and mistrust. NGOs, especially the ones dealing with troublesome social and political issues and played the role of “watchdog” were considered agents of foreign political interests and, quite often, enemies of the state. One result of such a view was the very unfavourable institutional and legal environment for development of nongovernmental, non-profit sector.
After 1998, and especially after the 2000 change of government, this situation gradually changed, both at the level of perception and at the level of public policies towards organized civil society. The existing legal framework that covers the activities of nongovernmental organizations consists of several laws (Law on Associations; Law on Endowments and Foundations; Law on Institutions); institutions (Governmental Bureau of Associations; National Foundation for Development of Civil Society; and Civil Society Development Council); strategic documents (Draft-Programme for Cooperation between the Government and Nongovernmental/Non-profit Sector; National Strategy for Creation of Environment Stimulating the Development of Civil Society), as well as systemic funding of NGOs from the public funds. However, certain segments of this framework still contain traces of the initial animosities. Legal Solutions The Croatian legal system recognizes three main types of legal entities that could be considered, in accordance with generally accepted criteria, nongovernmental or non-profit organizations. These are civic associations; endowments and foundations; and private non-profit institutions. Civic associations: This, as is the case in most countries in the world, the predominant form of non-governmental organization (according to available data, some 27,000 civic associations are registered in Croatia). Until 2001, this area in Croatia was regulated by the Law on Associations, in terms of its provisions and control it reserved for the state very similar to the Law on Social Organizations and Associations of Citizens from the socialist age. According to that Law, it took ten members to establish an association, while competent government ministry had significant influence on its management and governance. In 2001, the Constitutional Court abolished a great number of disputable provisions. Later that year, the new Law on Associations was adopted, much closer to the contemporary standards of freedom of association. Therefore, the minimal number of founding members was reduced to three and registration procedures were transferred to local self-government units. In addition, the Law provides for a possibility to establish an association without registration with the competent body, i.e. association without legal personality. This created relatively better legal environment regarding the most important groups of non-governmental organizations. Foundations: Foundations are probably the least developed segment of non-profit sector in Croatia. At this moment, there are only about 90 registered foundations in the country. The cause of such a situation is to be found primarily in the restrictive 1995 Law on Foundations. According to this Law, an endowment is defined as assets intended to permanently serve the purpose of achievement of beneficial or charitable goals by itself (or with income it generates and acquires). It also introduces an institution of a rather confusing name – “fund” – that denotes endowments established for a specific period of time (no longer than five years. The main defects of the Law, a point of agreement of most experts in the field, include:
Although a new, contemporary Law is available for more than three years, and in spite of the fact that the State Administrative Office itself participated in the drafting process, it seems that the area of private philanthropy, as important factor of financial stability of the non-profit sector, still hasn’t made it up the list of political priorities. Private institutions. The 1993 Law on Institutions provides that, in addition to public, it is possible to establish private institutions. These are legal entities established for the permanent pursuit of activities in the area of education, science, culture, information, sports, physical culture, technical culture, child care, healthcare, social welfare, care for disabled persons and other activities, if such activities are not pursued with the goal to make profits. According to existing data, at this moment there are about 150 private institutions registered and working in Croatia. * * * As we could see so far, the legal framework gives great advantage to civic associations compared to other forms of non-profit organization and action. This fact, together with the domination of association quite common in other countries, too, has led to a situation that civil society and NGOs in Croatia are equalized and reduced to the term associations. Therefore, the Government’s office charged with the obligation to deal with civil society was itself named Office of Associations. Also, the representatives of the sector often use the absurt phrase “non-governmental association”, although it is quite clear that an association, by default, can’t and shouldn’t be established by the Government). Institutional Framework Over the past nine years, since the start of the slow turn in governmental policies towards NGOs, three institutions charged with support of the sector and cooperation with it were established: the Office of Associations; the Civil Society Development Council; and the National Foundation for Civil Society Development. The Office of Institutions of the Government of Croatia. The Office, established in 1998, was the first of a series of institutions that had the task to establish cooperation between the state and the civil society. The Office is also charged with supervision and implementation of the recently adopted Strategy for Creation of Environment Stimulating for Development of Civil Society, creation and submission of legal solutions for the sector, monitoring of distribution of financial support to NGOs by state bodies, and coordination of activities of national and local bodies regarding cooperation with the sector. Nonetheless, as proven in the case of Jadranka Cigelj, its recently removed Head, the Office is of secondary political importance for the Government. Cigelj was a person whose views on the nongovernmental organization reflect both complete incompetence and animosity common for the early 1990s. Therefore, about a year ago, in an interview for “Glas koncila” Catholic weekly, Cigelj accused NGOs of grand treason and suggested that some of them need to be put under surveillance. Having in mind that such views are totally opposed to the declared policies of the past two Governments, we could conclude that the Head of the Office was named for that position solely on basis of her party affiliation. Society Development Council. This is a inter-sectoral advisory body of the Government, established in 2002, with the purpose to prepare strategies for development of civil society, monitor the implementation of Government’s programme for cooperation with the sector and financial support from the State Budget approved for projects and programmes of nongovernmental organizations. The Council is made of ten representatives of nongovernmental organizations, ten representatives of competent governmental institutions and three experts. NGO representatives are nominated from ten areas of action: (1) protection and promotion of human rights; (2) care for persons with disabilities; (3) healthcare and improved quality of living; (4) child care; (5) environmental protection and sustainable development; (6) social care; (7) youth activities; (8) democratization and societal development; (9) culture; (10) associations originating in the Homeland War. This list also represents the official classification of non-profit organizations. Over the past several years, there were many objections regarding the work of the Council, coming primarily from the neformal initiative of fifteen or so organizations named “Civil Society Forum”, but also from members of the Council appointed by NGOs. The Council, its critics believe, has little force of action and was used primarily to cover for the decisions adopted by the Office of Associations. For these reasons, and especially provoked by the statements of the Head of the Office of Associations and inappropriate reaction by the Government to her interview, four members of the second Council (2003-2006) resigned, thus denying the legitimacy to this body. In May 2006, the Office of Association initiated the process for selection of the Third Council. In the effort to make the process as transparent and democratic as possible, the Office provided an opportunity to the organizations to submit their own proposals for manner of selection and nomination of members. On basis of received proposals, a process was designed that allows the organizations, divided into ten areas of action, to nominate and then elect representatives for their respective areas. However, although the results of the elections were released in September 2006, the Council was named only four months later and its constituent session is yet to be held. Namely, the Office of Associations ordered that the elected members are submitted to security check by the intelligence services, which obviously slowed down the whole process. When information about the illegal security checks leaked into the public in January of this year, creating a first-rate political scandal, the Government urgently removed the Head of the Office of Associations. An interesting view on the whole case was given by Jagoda Munic from Zelena akcija, at the portal h-alter.org. National Foundation for Development of Civil Society. This public foundation was established in 2003 by the Croatian Sabor (the Parliament) and acts outside the structures of state and local administration. The main activities of the Foundation include provision of financial and expert support to programmes promoting sustainability of non-profit organizations, inter-sector cooperation, civic initiatives, volunteering, etc. In that context, we have the important fact that funds are not allocated exclusively for project activities, but there is also three-year institutional financial support in place. The Foundation is financed from the state Budget, from income collected through official games of chance and from capital assets, but also from foreign donations (European Commission; DFID; USAID). The management of the Foundation includes in equal shares the representatives of state administration bodies, nongovernmental organizations and experts in the field. There were also a number of objections on the work of the National Foundation, primarily related to procedures and results of funding competitions, and the objections prove that certain improvements can be made. Nonetheless, this institution introduced an innovative instrument that made it possible to compensate instabilities created by the pull-out of foreign donors with public funds, and at the same time prevented that distribution would be submitted to direct political control. The control is, to certain extent, left to those who receive the funds. Strategic Documents Programme for Cooperation between the Government of Croatia and the Nongovernmental, Non-profit Sector (pdf). This document, adopted by the Government in the first half of 2001 presents – at least on declarative level – one of the major turning points towards a more open, collaborative policies towards the civil sector. It clearly recognizes the nongovernmental, non-profit organizations as important social actors, especially in creation, monitoring and implementation of public policies and provision of public services. The Programme defines, in most general terms, the principles, areas and manners of cooperation between the Government and the sector. It puts special emphasis on the principle of independence, i.e. the right of the organizations to comment on Government policies regardless of existing financial ties. The document was prepared in consultations between the two sides and, in that aspect, provides quality basis for cooperation and partnership. Still, the Programme lacks binding legal power and implementation plan that could be evaluated. Therefore, it should be considered a statement of good intentions which were later realized to a certain level. National Strategy for Creation of Environment Stimulating to Development of Civil Society(pdf). The adoption of a strategy for development of the civil society was listed as an obligation of the Government in the above mentioned 2001 Programme for Cooperation, and the task to create the strategy fell to the Civil Society Development Council, in this body’s founding acts (2002). The Strategy, after a series of failed attempts and one scandal (again involving Jadranka Cigelj) finally saw the light of day in mid-2006. In order to make the process of preparation of the Strategy as transparent and inclusive as possible, and to avoid further misunderstandings and scandals, the Government established a working group charged with the preparation of the draft-document. The working group adopted the structure and the contents of the strategy and invited a number of experts in the area of civil society to work on individual sections of the Strategy. Furthermore, a special internet website and forum were opened to give a chance to all interested parties to participate in the drafting process. The process resulted in the very name of the Strategy and many of its important elements were discussed. In May 2006, the draft was submitted to public debate process in four Croatian cities, with participation of a great number of NGO representatives. The final text of the Strategy was adopted in July, and on February 1, 2007, the Government adopted the Operational Plan for its implementation for the period 2007-2011, with precisely listed measures, deadlines and responsible institutions. The Strategy defines the situation and goals in ten areas of civil society: (1) values-based relations between the state and the civil sector; (2) social cohesion; (3) citizens’ participation in creation of public policies; (4) education for democratic citizenship and human rights; (5) legal framework for action and development of civil society; (6) institutional framework to support the development of civil society; (7) system of financing to support the development of the civil society; (8) regional development; (9) development of volunteering, philanthropy and establishment of foundations; and, (10) development of civil society in international context. The greatest defects of the Strategy are its heterogeneous nature, too general approach of certain sections and inconsistent terminology it uses. The reading of its text gives an impression that its authors failed to explain what civil society should be: a conglomeration of legal entities registered as associations, foundations and institutions, or action based on a number of values. This confusion results, above all, from the fact that a truly great number of people participated in its creation. On the other hand, it was that fact that provides the key legitimacy to the Strategy. Public Funding After the pull-out of foreign donors and having in mind the low levels of development of private philanthropy, the state and units of local self-government are today the most important sources of finances for the nongovernmental organizations. This situation is, on one hand, somewhat problematic, having in mind the fact that it is impossible to fully exclude the possibility for political pressure. On the other hand, the financing of non-profit sector with funds of the community within which they work, even if such funds are collected through taxation, has the potential to create clearer reporting and accountability relations. The establishment of the Office of Associations in 1998 meant the centralization of a great portion of funds from the state Budget dedicated to associations that were previously secured through the budgets of individual Government ministries and offices. That means that the public financing of association has improved greatly, primarily in the sense of unification of procedures (public competitions, etc.). In 2002, the process turned back to decentralization, from the accounts of the Office of Associations to the budgets of Governments ministries and offices and the position of the National Foundation for Development of Civil Society was entered in the state Budget. The new Law on Lottery and Games of Chance was adopted the same year, providing that 50 percent of the earnings made through organization of games of chance is redirected to finance projects, i.e. towards organizations working in sports, fight against drug abuse, social and humanitarian activities, disabled persons, technical culture, culture, informal education and development of civil society. It created a relatively favourable framework for public funding of NGOs activities. In addition to the direct forms of financing through public competitions open by the Foundation, Government ministries and offices, local and regional self-government units, the state aims to stimulate private citizens and enterprises to actively give to non-profit organizations. The laws on profit and income tax state that donations of up to two percent of the annual income shall be considered eligible for tax relief and exemption. * * * Policies towards nongovernmental, non-profit sector in Croatia leave an impression – in many aspects – of a random collection of results of individual (political) moments, rather than systemic treatment with clearly set problems that need to be solved and goals to be achieved. We have, at the same time, the extremely regressive and restrictive Law on Foundations and the very innovative mechanism of public funding. Secret services are sent to watch members of non-governmental organizations while, at the same time, a convincing and doable strategy to stimulate the development of civil sector is adopted. Still, it seems that, as of late, the number of such random political moments that push towards a road favourable to the sector is no the rise. |
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