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European Stability Initiative (ESI) is a site where you can find reports on South Eastern Europe and European enlargement Policy. Recent projects are about the situation in Turkey and EU policy on Visa-Free Travel for the Western Balkan.
Croatia
Website of Politeia Member from Croatia: GONG
Croatia adopted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in late 2003 as a result of NGO coalition “Citizens have a right to know” advocacy campaign. GONG has recognized the flows of FOIA regulation, as well as implementation, together with its immense significance for the citizens, public and the rule of law.
GONG Regional office Rijeka is, in partnership with civil society organizations SMART-Association for Civil Society Development (Rijeka), Centre for Civic Initiatives (Porec) and Pokretac (Korenica), implementing three year program "Network for Development of Regional Capacities – MRAKK". The program is being implemented since the January 2007 and is financed by the National Foundation for the Civil Society Development. The goal of the project is to strengthen capacity of civil society organizations in the Counties of Primorje-Gorski kotar, Istria and Lika-Senj.
In 2008 GONG plans to implement another season of 'I Vote for the First Time' and 'European Class workshops'. European Class workshops will be conducted in high-schools during the spring term and I Vote for the First Time workshops in fall.
Because of the Croatian parliamentary elections of 25 November 2007, GONG organized a nation-wide campaign. It was officially announced in October, although certain activities were conducted in the months before. The GONG campaign for the parliamentary elections focused on educating and informing citizens, observing the overall election process and reporting on its course.
Just as in some other European countries (e.g. the referendums on the European Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands in 2005), there is a gap between the political elite and the citizens of Croatia with regard to the popularity of the European integration process. While there is hardly any euroscepticism amongst the political elite of Croatia, research points out that the public opinion on European integration has changed in the last few years from supportive to more sceptical. In 'Euroscepticism in Croatia: On the far side of rationality?' Aleksander Štulhofer describes his research on the main characteristics of popular (of the people) euroscepticism in Croatia and gives some recommendations on how to tackle this.
GONG has been for six years now conducting the project “I Vote for the First Time” in which Croatian high-school seniors have been participating in workshops that introduces them to basic electoral terms and expressions and the election process itself. Also they learn about the process of public advocacy activities, with a purpose of encouraging a more active involvement of students in social and political processes. So far, 120 000 students from all over Croatia have participated in these workshops.
GONG organised in co-operation with the town of Rijeka the Action Day for Rijeka high school students on 12 October 2006 in Rijeka, Croatia. The Action Day is part of the pilot-project “Think Globally, Act Locally!”, which GONG has developed based on the experience of the Centre for Political Participation IPP from Amsterdam.
On January 31, 2006, the Council of Europe’s ‘Young Active Citizens’ Award was presented during the European Conference on ‘Integrated childhood and youth policies in Europe’ by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The award went to five youth projects aimed at creating a sense of belonging and of commitment to democratic society among young people. Created in 2002, this award is aimed at promoting active participation of young people in society, especially at local and regional levels.