Ivo Josipović: Regression of Society and the Justice System in Croatia

Summary of Ivo Josipović’s presentation given during the roundtable Jusitice, Equality and Diversity in Croatia (English and Croatian Version):

Ivo Josipović said that some of the values we advocated ten years ago are no longer important for us. In particular, he analyzed the work of the judiciary in Croatia, and said that the black-white image of politics and judiciary has created a state within a state. He questioned whether state institutions work poorly and, for that reason, are not respected by citizens. Or they are not respected enough and therefore work poorly. He claims that the legitimacy of judges should be the result of their expertise and moral values, but unfortunately judges today are not held responsible for their actions. He argues that public perception is that court cases and processes take too long and that people are not treated equally before the law. On the other hand, there is EU data according to which Croatia is investing heavily in the judiciary and which shows that the situation is not so bad. In his opinion, Croatian judiciary is extremely closed towards adopting new ideas and knowledge, and that is because of the constant criticism of the judicial system.

Ivo Josipović istaknuo je da neke vrijednosti koje smo zagovarali prije deset godina više nisu aktualne. Posebice je analizirao rad pravosuđa u Hrvatskoj, te je rekao da je crno-bijela slika o politici i pravosuđu stvorila državu u državi. Postavio je pitanje rade li državne institucije loše pa se ne poštuju od strane građana, ili se ne poštuju pa zato rade loše. Smatra da bi legitimacija sudaca trebala proizlaziti iz stručnosti i moralnosti, ali da danas suci odgovaraju samo sebi, sami se biraju i razrješavaju dužnosti. Percepcija u javnosti je da sudski predmeti i procesi predugo traju i da se brojnim osobama pogoduje. Naveo je da, s druge strane, postoje podaci Europske unije koji govore da Hrvatska puno ulaže u pravosuđe i da stanje nije toliko loše. Hrvatsko pravosuđe je, po njegovom mišljenju, izrazito zatvoreno što dovodi odbijanja uvođenja novih ideja i znanja u pravosudni sustav, te da se zbog stalnih kritika pravosuđe zatvorilo i nije spremno argumentirati svoj rad.