April the 3rd, 2025 – Croatia invests millions in its fight against corruption, but have there actually been any concrete results?
As Jadranka Dozan/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Ministry of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation has now submitted the second Action Plan to public discussion. It will implement the Corruption Prevention Strategy until the year 2030.
In terms of the number of measures and the amount that the state will mobilise in the new three-year period until 2027, this plan is more ambitious than the previous one. It also includes the implementation of as many as 234 measures in which a total of 12.1 million euros will be invested. According to the previous plan, 207 measures were to be implemented in the fight Croatia is engaged in against corruption.
the perception of the croatian flavour of corruption
There are a large number of measures that will be implemented within the wider framework of the five goals Croatia has in its fight against corruption. These are: strengthening the institutional and normative framework, strengthening the transparency and openness of the work of public authorities, strengthening the system of integrity and conflict of interest management, strengthening anti-corruption potential in the public procurement system and raising public awareness of the harmfulness of corruption, and the necessity of reporting irregularities and strengthening transparency. The above should result in “a prosperous society in which the rule of law and the personal integrity of each individual are values that we all advocate and live by”. Will it, though? That remains to be seen and past examples of when Croatia has tried to fight against corruption aren’t promising.
Even without a detailed analysis of the implementation of the previous action plan, it’s abundantly clear that the money invested has not borne a single fruit. This is evidenced by the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2024, which is published annually by Transparency International. According to that list, last year, Croatia fell six places on the ranking published for 180 countries, from 57th to 63rd.
Therefore, the perception of corruption in Croatia hasn’t decreased at all. In fact, as many as 72 percent of those surveyed as part of a European Commission (EC) survey believe that the level of corruption in Croatia has increased over the last three years. Such views are fully justified, as corruption scandals in Croatia break out almost on a daily basis.
the omnipresence of corruption in croatia
“Real cases of corruption that are being processed as criminal offences in the Croatian justice system confirm that it is not solely a matter of perception, but the omnipresence of corruption,” stated Jelena Budak from the Institute of Economics.
“During its many years of formal adaptation to EU, and now OECD norms, Croatian society has completely failed in its fight against corruption. The level of tolerance for corruption in this country is not decreasing and there is an obvious lack of awareness of its harmfulness,” Budak pointed out, noting that administrative corruption is deeply intertwined with political corruption.
protecting healthcare from corruption
The largest sum (two million euros) will be invested in managing corruption risks in public procurement procedures in the healthcare sector.
Specifically, the plan is to procure and establish a software solution for unified public procurement in the last quarter of the year. The aim of that is to more effectively monitor all execution of framework agreements and user contracts. An additional million euros will be invested in improving the payment control system in the healthcare sector.
1.7 million euros will be invested in the development and upgrade of the eProcedure module. This will provide investors with transparent and simple access to information and procedures related to the implementation of their projects throughout the entire investment process. The deadline for the implementation of this project is the final quarter of 2027.
The action plan for Croatia and its fight against corruption also states that transparency will be increased regarding the composition of working groups for drafting laws, other regulations and acts. In most cases, this information remains unknown to the public because the powers that be, for reasons known only to them, don’t make a song and dance about it.
