Croacia - Justice and law enforcement - still room for improvement (2010)

The latest EU Progress Report on Croatia, while applauding the reduction in the backlog of cases, continued to note that court procedures were too long, that the enforcement of court decisions was ineffective, and that the monitoring and follow-up by the State Inspectorate and the judicial system of violations of workers’ rights remained weak. Croatian trade unions have called for the establishment of real labour courts, which could significantly expedite the resolution of labour conflicts. The reinstatement of trade union leaders remains a problem, as employers sometimes prefer to pay a fine for failure to comply with a court order than to reinstate a trade unionist.