After Hungary withdrew its opposition to Croatia’s entry into the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the organisation of 36 most-developed countries of the world, Slovenia has remained alone in its position to continue blocking Croatia’s membership. However, according to the latest information, the United States is also opposed to Croatia’s accession to the OECD, reports Jutarnji List on March 8, 2019.
Asked whether the information that the US is blocking Croatia’s OECD membership is correct, the US embassy in Zagreb said that “the OECD is an organisation based on consensual decision-making and that any decision on the beginning of the process of admitting another country requires the consent of all 36 OECD members.”
The very fact that the embassy did not deny blocking Croatia’s entry into the OECD seems to indicate that there are issues. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges that the United States opposes Croatia’s accession to the OECD, but argues that there is no specific problem between the US and Croatia.
“In addition to Croatia, five more countries are awaiting an invitation to start accession negotiations with the OECD (Bulgaria, Romania, Peru, Argentina and Brazil). The USA does not generally oppose the OECD’s enlargement to new members but believes that sufficient capacity has not yet been built within the OECD to admit so many countries. Therefore, it demands from the OECD Secretariat and all current members to implement certain reforms to create the preconditions for better functioning of the organisation,” said the Ministry.
Hungary had for a full year blocked Croatia’s entry into the OECD, claiming that Zagreb did not respect the decisions of the UN tribunal (UNCITRAL), which stated that there was insufficient evidence that the 2009 contracts concerning INA and MOL oil companies were a result of corruptive activities. In late November last year, Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said that Hungary had withdrawn its blockade, but did not provide any explanation. Slovenia is still blocking Croatia’s entry into the OECD because of Croatia’s rejection of the border arbitration ruling.
While the reporters were unable to receive any official explanation from the embassy about reasons for stopping Croatia with regard to the OECD membership, some specific complaints can be found in the State Department report for 2016 (published in 2017). This primarily concerns the issue of property restitution. “The restitution of property remains a problem for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Coordination of Jewish Communities in Croatia, an umbrella organisation representing Jewish communities from across the country, especially the Jewish Municipality of Zagreb. Since 2014, there has been no return of Jewish community property, although there are several requests in the process. Jewish organisations have reported significant problems with the process of recovering private property seized during and after the Second World War,” the report said.
Furthermore, the report also notes that “the Jewish community leaders have put forward evidence of denial of the Holocaust and publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the state to the installation of a memorial plaque with Ustasha greeting from World War II, which a group of war veterans put in 2016 near the Jasenovac concentration camp site.” It also states that “there was discrimination of ethnic Serbs and Roma”.
Additionally, when it comes to the judiciary, it is highlighted “that the convictions in high profile corruption have often been abolished after an appeal.” “Corruption remains a problem, and a significant number of corruption cases is ongoing. Media problems were also mentioned, especially the “lack of transparency about media ownership,” especially in local media. The State Department also stressed that “LGBT activists stated that members of their community had limited access to justice, many of whom were reluctant to report violations of their rights due to concerns about the ineffective justice system and fear of further victimisation during court proceedings.”
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Frenki Laušić).
More news about the OECD membership can be found in the Business section.
