History of Croatia (1995–present)
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This is the history of Croatia since the end of the Croatian War of Independence.
Tuđman: peacetime presidency (1995–1999)
In November 1995 the war in Croatia ended. Around 20,000 people were killed in the war, while official figures on wartime damage published in Croatia in 1996 specify 180,000 destroyed housing units, 25% of the Croatian economy destroyed, and US$27 billion of material damage.[1] Europe Review 2003/04 estimated the war damage at US$37 billion in damaged infrastructure, lost economic output, and refugee-related costs, while GDP dropped 21% in the period.[2] 15 percent of housing units and 2,423 cultural heritage structures, including 495 sacral structures, were destroyed or damaged.[3] The war imposed an additional economic burden of very high military expenditures. By 1994, as Croatia rapidly developed into a de facto war economy, the military consumed as much as 60 percent of total government spending.[4]
Following the end of the war,
As a result of the macro-stabilization programs, the negative growth of GDP during the early 1990s stopped and turned into a positive trend. Post-war reconstruction activity provided another impetus to growth. Consumer spending and private sector investments, both of which were postponed during the war, contributed to the growth in 1995-97 and improved economic conditions.[7] Real GDP growth in 1995 was 6,8%, in 1996 5,9% and in 1997 6,6%.[8]
In 1995 a Ministry of Privatization was established with Ivan Penić as its first minister.[9] Privatization in Croatia had barely begun when war broke out in 1991 and its transformation from a planned economy to a market economy was thus slow and unsteady. The ruling party was criticised for transferring enterprises to a group of privileged owners connected to the party.[10]
Croatia became a member of the Council of Europe on 6 November 1996. President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman won the 1997 presidential elections with 61.4% of the votes and was re-elected to a second five-year term. Marina Matulović-Dropulić became the Mayor of Zagreb having won the 1997 local elections, which formally ended the Zagreb crisis.
The remaining part of former
Value-added tax was introduced in 1998 and the central government budget was in surplus that year.[12] At the end of 1998 Croatia went into a recession and GDP growth slowed down to 1,9%. The recession continued throughout 1999 when GDP fell by 0,9%.[8] Unemployment increased from around 10% in 1996 and 1997 to 11,4% in 1998. By the end of 1999 it reached 13,6%. The country emerged from the recession in the 4th quarter of 1999.[13]
Račan government (2000–2003)
Tuđman died in 1999 and in the early
Economic growth picked up in 2000 following the recession.
The Račan government is often credited with bringing Croatia out of semi-isolation of the Tuđman era. Croatia became a
Sanader government (2003–2009)
In late 2003,
The country was given EU applicant status on 18 June 2004 and a negotiations framework was set up in March 2005. Actual negotiations began after the capture of general
In August 2007, Croatia experienced a tragedy when during the fires that ravaged its coast, 12 firemen died as a result of a fire on Kornat island.
Sanader was reelected in the closely contested 2007 parliamentary election.
The October 2008
In June 2009, Sanader abruptly resigned his post, leaving scarce explanation for his actions. As written by
Kosor government (2009–2011)
Jadranka Kosor assumed the head of the government following Sanader's resignation. Kosor continued with her predecessor's policy of integration into European Union[16] She also had to introduce austerity measures to counter the consequences of 2008 economic crisis and launched the anti-corruption campaign aimed at public officials.
Jadranka Kosor signed an agreement with
In the
Ivo Sanader tried to come back in
In June 2010, Kosor proposed loosening the labor law and making it more business friendly, in order to foster economic growth. The proposed new labour law would have set a six-month deadline for hammering out a new collective agreement after the existing one expires. After that, the workers' rights would be subject to separate agreements with individual employers instead.[24] The changing of the labour law was greatly opposed by five trade unions: a petition demanding a referendum gathered 813,016 signatures, far more than the required 449,506 signatures (10 percent of all voters in Croatia), in the first successful popular referendum attempt.[25][26][27]
Opinion polling was done for the prospective referendum: an Ipsos Puls for Nova TV poll of 8 July 2010[28] at a sample of 646 indicated 64% would support the referendum, 15% would be against, and 21% were undecided. CRO Demoskop also polled on the matter on 1 and 2 July[29] at a sample of 1300, and found 88.6% of the polled would support it.
After the Ministry of Administration completed its examination of the signatures, the Croatian Government first hinted that of all submitted signatures, no more than 330 thousand are valid, which would be insufficient for starting a referendum.[30] After a public backlash, they nevertheless passed the signatures on to the Parliament. The government then decided to withdraw the reform proposals on 3 September 2010.[31] The Croatian Parliament could not decide conclusively whether this rendered the referendum proposal moot or not, and instead passed the judgement on to the Constitutional Court of Croatia.[32] The court decided on 20 October 2010 that there was no longer any need to hold the referendum.[33] It ordered the government not to subject any changes to the labor law in the following year.
The government and labour unions later agreed that there would be a different referendum instead, asking the question "Do you agree that a referendum must be called if so requested by 200,000 registered voters, and that the time for the collection of the required number of voters' signatures should be 30 days?". It was planned to be held at the same time as the EU accession referendum,[34] but did not happen.
The 2011 Croatian protests were anti-government street protests in Croatia started on 22 February 2011,[35][36][37] after a call to protest over the Internet, and continued almost daily.[38] The protests brought together diverse political persuasions in response to recent government corruption scandals and worries regarding upcoming EU accession, and called for the resignation of Kosor and early elections. They were met by a violent police reaction and a ban on assembly in front of the Croatian Parliament in Zagreb.[39][40] On 26 February, tens of thousands of protesters met in the Croatian capital Zagreb's Ban Jelačić Square to express their support for indicted Croatian War of Independence veterans and demand for Kosor's government to resign.[41] Several dozen people were injured and arrested as anti-government protests degenerated into clashes with police.[41][42] In the following few weeks the number of protesters rose to some 10,000 people,[43] but later the protests gradually stopped.
On 30 June 2011 the EU accession agreement was concluded, giving Croatia the all-clear to join, with a projected accession date of 1 July 2013.[44]
Milanović government (2011–2016)
The
In January 2012, the new government organized a referendum for EU membership that passed with 66.27%. After the referendum, the Sabor ratified the accession treaty, the Treaty of Accession 2011.[45]
The Milanović cabinet endured a major change when the first deputy prime minister Radimir Čačić resigned in November 2012, having been convicted of vehicular manslaughter in Hungary.[46]
In the
Following the successful ratification of its accession treaty in all existing EU member states, Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July 2013.[48]
Shortly after joining the European union a question of extradition of Josip Perković arose. A member of Yugoslavian secret service UDBA, Germany accused Perković of murder of a Croat citizen Stjepan Đureković ( who is suspected to have stolen 200 million dollars from INA petrol company and has subsequently fled to Germany). At first Croatia was unwilling to extradite Perković under the justification that its constitution prohibited it ( all political crimes fall barred after 2002 ). However, when threatened with sanctions in case of non compliance, the parliament quickly voted to change the constitution to allow the extradition. Finally, the law is to come into effect on January the first 2014.[49]
On December the first 2013, Croatia held its third referendum since becoming independent. The referendum question was Do you define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, 65% of Croats voted yes, however, with a significantly low turnout of only 38% of eligible voters. The referendum was organized by the ultra-conservative group "In the name of family"'. The Catholic Church urged people to vote yes, while the government, 88 civil society organizations and local celebrities advised citizens to vote no. The referendum has raised much controversy and increase of violence against LGBT people in Croatian for this and following years.
The sixth
Late 2014 and first half of 2015 was also marked by prolonged
In 2015, after Hungary built a fence along its border with Serbia, over 17000 refugees crossed the border into Croatia. They are seeking an alternative route into the
In November 2015, the centre-right coalition, led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), won 59 seats while the ruling alliance, led by the Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and his Social Democrats (SDP), won 56 seats in the parliamentary election. However, neither the ruling alliance nor the opposition got the parliamentary majority.[55]
Orešković government (2016)
In January 2016, Tihomir Orešković, a Canadian-educated economist and technocrat, became Croatian new Prime Minister.[56] Five months after taking the office, Prime Minister Orešković lost a parliamentary confidence vote, meaning his government fell.[57]
Plenković government (2016-)
In September 2016, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the early parliamentary election. However, they were still short of a majority in the 151-seat parliament.[58] In October 2016, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader
In January 2020, former prime minister
The centre-right governing party HDZ won the
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