engleski

Croatia Report: Sustainable Governance in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis

In Croatia, the COVID19 pandemic ended a period of robust economic growth and declining macroeconomic imbalances. The twin deficits in the fiscal balance and the current account had become surpluses after 2015, and by the beginning of 2020, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate had fallen from a peak of 17.5 % in 2014 to 6%, which is comparable to the EU-27 average unemployment rate. Unfortunately, however, the center-right Plenković government, in office since 2016, had not used the boom years from 2015-2020 to press ahead with muchneeded reforms in healthcare, pensions, public administration and state-owned enterprises (SOE) reform. Moreover, the high share of the tourist sector, which had been a main driver of growth, in GDP now made the Croatian economy highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government’ effective. In s initial response to the pandemic was quick, resolute and March 2020, it authorized the National Civil Protection Agency (NCPA) to manage the crisis, installed a Scientific Council for advice on COVID-19 affairs and adopted one of the strictest lockdowns in the EU. Daily infections were brought down to single-di git numbers already during the second half of April 2020 and remained low until June 2020. In spite of one of the sharpest drops in GDP growth over the second and third quarter in the EU27, the government prevented massive layoffs by introducing various furlough schemes for employees and providing financial support for entrepreneurs and the self-employed. Croatia’s employment rate has fallen only mildly compared to other member states, which is remarkable since the number of nights spent at tourist accommo dations fell by one half compared to 2019. Nor did the health system fall apart under the pressure of COVID-19-related hospitalizations, even though it might have achieved even better results in combination with more coherent epidemiological measures. It also ensured the stability of the education system and made some improvements in the domain of social policy. The government passed a lex specialis for the reconstruction of Zagreb and its surroundings after a devastating 5.5 magnitude earthquake in March 2020. The government has been less successful in handling the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Kotarski 2020). Not taking expert advice on board, it failed to prepare the healthcare and education systems, and it failed to reintroduce lockdown measur es. In November 2020, COVID19 spread dramatically, and Croatia became one of the countries in the EU with the highest daily increase in persons infected. Like in other countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought restrictions of civil rights and politica l liberties. The legal basis for these measures has been controversial. By delegating powers to the NCPA, the government sidelined certain preestablished statutory procedures for handling infectious diseases, ultimately prompting the need for several retroactive legislative amendments. The COVID-19 pandemic also revealed the government’ s willingness to instrumentalize the media and the Constitutional Court’ s willingness to accommodate infringements on the rule of law. However, Croatia managed to hold parliamentary elections in a professional manner in July 2020.

COVID-19 ; crisis management ; elections ; recession ; Plenković's Government ; GDP ; EU ; vaccination ; employment

nije evidentirano