The Role of the Croatian Parliament in the process of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union : Parliament's contribution to democratic consolidation in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

Tema disertacije je djelovanje i uloga Hrvatskoga sabora u procesu pristupanja Republike Hrvatske Europskoj uniji i istraživanje njegovog doprinosa konsolidaciji demokracije u Republici Hrvatskoj. Pokazala sam da je Sabor pridonio konsolidaciji demokracije koja se provodila kroz proces europskih integracija, međutim, nastupila je ponajviše institucionalna konsolidacija, koja je bila uvjetovana članstvom Hrvatske u Europskoj uniji, ali ne i potpuna (četverorazinska) konsolidacija (slijedeći teorijski okvir W. Merkela), koja je inherentno unutrašnji proces i koja zahtijeva ne samo promjenu institucija i normi, nego i transformaciju kako političkih elita, tako i društva. Ipak, značaj institucionalne izgradnje kao temelja za ukupnu konsolidaciju je neupitan. Velike institucionalne promjene u Hrvatskoj poklopile su se, a dobrim dijelom bile su inducirane pristupnim procesom za članstvo Hrvatske u Europskoj uniji. Primjer Hrvatske potvrđuje postavke A. Lijpharta da kvaliteta predstavničke demokracije raste i na strani veće uključivosti i na strani eficijentnosti u konsenzusnom modelu. Djelujući konsenzusnim mehanizmima koje je potaknuo parlamentarni sustav uveden ustavnim promjenama 2000. godine ojačala je predstavnička demokracija. Ujedno je proces pristupanja zadobio veću političku legitimaciju.This thesis examines the activities and the role of the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) in the process of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union as well as the Sabor's contribution to the consolidation of democracy in the Republic of Croatia. I will show that the Sabor contributed to the democratic consolidation carried out through the European integration process. However, the consolidation was merely institutional, which was a requirement for Croatia's membership of the European Union, and not a full (four-level) consolidation (in line with W. Merkel's theoretic framework), which is inherently an internal process and which requires not only the change of institutions and norms, but also the transformation of both political elites and the society. Nevertheless, the importance of instituion building as the foundation for the overall consolidation is incontestable. According to A. Lijphart, the advantages of parliamentary democracy over presidential democracy are irrefutable, as are the advantages of consensus over majoritarian democracy, both in terms of representation and efficiency. Great institutional changes in Croatia coincided with, and were to a large extent induced by, the pre-accession process for Croatia's membership of the European Union. The Croatian experience confirms Lijphart's theses that the quality of representative democracy increases in consensus democracies in terms of greater inclusiveness and in terms of efficiency. Using consensus mechanisms, made available by the parliamentary system introduced by the constitutional amendments of 2000, representative democracy grew stronger. Simultaneously, the Croatian accession process won greater political legitimacy