European Commission's Rule of Law Report highlights Croatia's progress

For three years in a row, the Commission has recognised Croatia's progress in its rule of law reports. In the 2026 report, Croatia received only four recommendations (like e.g. Germany, Austria and Finland). Progress was noted relating to all recommendations from last year's report

In relation to the recommendation regarding anti-corruption, significant progress was noted and the European Commission commended our recent amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, the State Attorney's Office Act, the Act on the Protection of Persons Who Report Irregularities and in particular the USKOK Act, as well as the institutional changes introduced with the aim of greater efficiency in the prosecution of corruption crimes. The enhanced transparency and efficiency through the recent amendments to the Public Procurement Act were also highlighted.

Progress was also recognised in the area of strengthening the efficiency of the judiciary, with a positive emphasis on the reform of the system of entry into judicial office, further digitalisation of misdemeanour proceedings by introducing e-Communication, alignment with the Court of Justice of the European Union in terms of unification of case-law and redefinition of the role of the so-called registrations magistrates, and the completion of the election of the President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia.

Furthermore, additional progress was recognised in the area of SLAPP lawsuits with the entry into force of the Act on the Protection of Persons Who Engage in Public Participation, and one last year's recommendation, for the allocation of state advertising funds, was omitted, while a new recommendation on the digitalisation of the verification of asset declarations is of a technical nature.

In addition to a number of positive things, the Report highlights the length of court proceedings and the negative public perception of judicial independence as significant challenges, areas in which the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, in cooperation with all other relevant judicial partners, has been investing continuous efforts, as evidenced by the decline in the total backlog of court cases.
 

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