President of the Republic Meets with Representatives of Civil Society Organizations

The President of the Republic met with representatives of the Croatian Platform for International Citizen Solidarity CROSOL and the Initiative for a Strong Civil Society. The representatives of CROSOL and the Initiative for a Strong Civil Society informed President Milanović about the growing problems that civil society organizations in Croatia are facing.

The members highlighted the violation of their right to decide independently on their representatives, since they were outvoted by the representatives of public administrative bodies at a session of the Council for Civil Society Development, as one of the biggest problems. The new Council Chair, they warned, was not supported by members of the Council from the ranks of civil society organizations, which marks the first time since the Council’s establishment in 2002 that an elected Chair did not have the support of their democratically elected representatives. They claimed that the representatives of public administrative bodies have taken control over the Council and that the civil, progressive society is systematically being disparaged and obstructed. Furthermore, they demanded the annulment of the process for electing members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) from Croatia from the ranks of civil society because the election, in their view, was not held in accordance with democratic standards.

Attending the meeting on behalf of CROSOL were Kristijan Kovačić, Advocacy Coordinator and Josip Miličević from the Croatian Youth Network, a CROSOL member. Representing the Initiative for a Strong Civil Society were Nikola Tadić, Željka Leljak Gracin, Vesna Teršelić, Branka Mrzić Jagatić and Blaženka Sečkar.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas