WGA 2020 | Croatia | Conclusions

Conclusions

Question:
Overall, in what ways and with what success has your country implemented a WGA? What would you consider the success factors underpinning a WGA in your country?

Croatia Expert

Tonci Prodan

Director, Portus Et Navem, Split

Tonci Prodan is currently working as Director of the private security consulting company Portus Et Navem in Split, Croatia. He is active on several national and international security projects covering a broad spectrum of security issues, such as counterterrorism and other contemporary security threats. Furthermore, he is also active as an Interim Lecturer at the University Department of Forensic Sciences in Split and two other private institutions. Prior to joining Portus Et Navem, Tonci served as Assistant Director of the Office of the National Security Council of the Republic of Croatia. He has been professionally involved in issues related to national security for a number of years, and this has expanded to international security in recent years. Tonci holds a PhD in Comparative Politics from the University of Zagreb.

Croatia
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The Republic of Croatia has almost completely implemented a WGA that is fully in line with the country’s constitution and includes cooperation among executive, legislative and judicial authorities. The national WGA was patterned after the EU framework and shares aspects in common with several other WGAs, including those of the UN, NATO and the OSCE. As a result, the national WGA enjoys effective and high-quality institutional arrangements.

Croatia has had a WGA since 2017, when the current National Security Strategy (Republic of Croatia 2017) was adopted and the Act on National Security System was passed (Croatian Parliament 2017). There are integrated processes for initiating, programming and implementing the WGA on the national level. Furthermore, funds for enforcing the implementation of the WGA (in the form of the homeland security system) are provided by the government budget pursuant to Art. 18 of the Act on National Security System (ibid.). If the funds are not sufficient, it is possible to redistribute some funds within the government budget after officially notifying the parliament.

Furthermore, Coordination for the Homeland Security System (CHSS), the body in charge of coordinating the activities of the homeland security system and seeing that the decisions of the National Security Council are implemented, has a composition that itself reflects a horizontal WGA, as it includes the heads of several ministries and other organisations involved in responding to crises. What’s more, it serves a vertical WGA function in its role as a communications channel between members of the executive and legislative branches, including the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament.

Croatia Report