Constitution of Croatia


The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia is the supreme legal act of the Republic of Croatia, serving as the basis for all other legislation.

History

While it was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under the Constitution of Yugoslavia.
Following the first multi-party parliamentary elections held in April 1990, the Parliament made various constitutional changes. On December 22, 1990, they rejected the communist one-party system, adopted a liberal-democratic constitution and dropped the 'Socialist' label from the country's name, becoming the Republic of Croatia.
The document is sometimes known as the Christmas Constitution.
The Constitution of 1990 used the semi-presidential model of the French Fifth Republic, with broad Presidential executive powers shared with the Government and a bicameral parliament which consisted of the House of Representatives and the House of Counties.

Contents

Historical foundations

This is the preamble of the Constitution. It explains how the Croats managed to preserve their national identity throughout centuries in various forms of states from the formation of Croatian principalities in 7th century until present days.

The millenary identity of the Croatian nation and the continuity of its statehood, confirmed by the course of its entire historical experience within different forms of states and by the preservation and growth of the idea of a national state, founded on the historical right of the Croatian nation to full sovereignty, manifested in:
Considering the presented historical facts and universally accepted principles of the modern world, as well as the inalienable and indivisible, non-transferable and nonexhaustible right of the Croatian nation to self-determination and state sovereignty, including its fully maintained right to secession and association, as basic provisions for peace and stability of the international order, the Republic of Croatia is established as the nation state of the Croatian people and the state of the members of autochthonous national minorities: Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Rusyns, Bosniaks, Slovenians, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Russians, Bulgarians, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Turks, Vlachs, Albanians and the others who are citizens, and who are guaranteed equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and the realization of national rights in accordance with the democratic norms of the United Nations Organization and the countries of the free world.
Respecting the will of the Croatian nation and all citizens, resolutely expressed in the free elections, the Republic of Croatia is hereby founded and shall develop as a sovereign and democratic state in which equality, freedoms and human rights are guaranteed and ensured, and their economic and cultural progress and social welfare promoted.

Basic provisions

defines Croatia as unitary and indivisible democratic and social state in which power derives from the people and belongs to the people as a community of free and equal citizens. The people exercises this power through the election of representatives and through direct decision-making.
Article 3 states that freedom, equal rights, national equality and equality of genders, love of peace, social justice, respect for human rights, inviolability of ownership, conservation of nature and the environment, the rule of law, and a democratic multiparty system are the highest values of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia and the ground for interpretation of the Constitution.
Article 4 states that the government shall be organized on the principle of separation of powers into the legislative, executive and judicial branches, but limited by the right to local and regional self-government guaranteed by this Constitution.
Article 12 states that the official language is Croatian in the Latin script and that in some areas, together with the Croatian language and Latin script, other languages, such as Cyrillic or any other legal language can be used.

Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms

deals with general human rights, Personal and Political Freedoms and Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
All are equal before the law regardless of race, color, gender, language, religion, political or other belief, national or social origin, property, birth, education, social status or other characteristics.
Article 21 states that every human being has the inalienable right to live, thus there is no capital punishment in the Republic of Croatia. Entrepreneurial and market freedom is the basis of the economic system. In this chapter Croatian National Bank is defined as central bank which is independent in its work of monetary policy making and responsible to the Croatian Parliament.

Organization of Government

The Croatian parliament is defined as a representative body of the people and is vested with the legislative power. The most important function of the parliament is to make laws and to amend the Constitution.
The People's Ombudsman, as a commissioner of the Croatian Parliament, shall protect the constitutional and legal rights of citizens in proceedings before the state administration and bodies vested with public authority. He is elected by the parliament for a term of 8 years.
The President of the Republic of Croatia shall represent and stand for the Republic of Croatia at home and abroad. He shall take care of regular and harmonized functioning and stability of the state government and is responsible for the defense of independence and territorial integrity. He is elected directly by the people for a term of 5 years and is limited on 2 mandates maximum. The most important task of the President is to be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and to be leader during the state of war when he can issue decrees with the force of law. He is impeachable for any violation of the Constitution. Croatian parliament decides whether to proceed impeaching the President and that is decided by the Constitutional Court.
The Government of the Republic of Croatia exercise executive power. The Government consists of Prime Minister, one or more Deputy Prime Minister and ministers. President of the republic confides the mandate to form the Government to the person who, upon the distribution of the seats in the Croatian Parliament and consultations held, enjoys confidence of the majority of its members. The Government shall assume its duty if the vote of confidence is passed by a majority vote of all members of the Croatian Parliament.
The main function of the Government is to propose legislation, to execute laws, guide the foreign and internal policies, direct the state administration and take care of economic development. The Government is responsible to the Croatian parliament and parliament can vote of no confidence when Government resigns.
Judicial power is exercised by independent and autonomous courts. Supreme Court is the highest court and secures uniform application of laws and equal justice to all. The president of the Supreme Court is proposed by the President of the Republic and elected by the Croatian Parliament for a term of 4 years.
Judicial office is permanent. Judges are elected by the National Judicial Council. The National Judicial Council consists of 11 members elected by the Croatian Parliament from among notable judges, attorneys-at-law and university professors of law. The majority of members of the National Judicial Council shall be from the ranks of judges.
The Office of the Public Prosecutions is an autonomous and independent judicial body empowered and due to proceed against those who commit criminal and other punishable offences, to undertake legal measures for protection of the property of the Republic of Croatia and to provide legal remedies for protection of the Constitution and law. The Head Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Croatia shall be appointed by the Croatian Parliament at the proposal of the Government for a term of 4 years.