Category: democracy

28. September 2026.

Public Consultation in Croatia: More Voices, Same Gaps

In 2025, nearly nine out of every ten public consultations run by Croatian state bodies skipped the legally required 30-day comment period. More than a third of the comments submitted by citizens were simply rejected, and another quarter were logged without any real response at all.

Civil Society in Croatia: Narrowed Space, Pressure on Associations and 10 Years without Development Strategies

The annual Civic Space Report for 2025 documents a worrying state of civic space in Croatia — ranging from nine years without a fundamental strategy for civil society, through SLAPP lawsuits and attacks on the funding of associations, to the systematic exclusion of civil society organizations from decision-making processes.

19. September 2025.

Initiative For a Free Croatia: More than 1,200 citizens and 175 organisations call on the Government to put an end to bans on festivals and concerts

The appeal to the Government, entitled “The Constitution is valid for everyone – the Government must prevent any threat to artistic and journalistic freedoms”, has so far been signed by 175 civil society organizations, unions, and institutions, as well as more than 1,200 individuals.

EU Affairs in Croatia: Parliamentary Committee Determines National Positions for Discussion

Aware of the importance of European policies for the lives of citizens, and of the Parliament’s insufficiently active role in shaping national positions that influence those policies, Gong will monitor the work of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs in order to bring EU matters closer to citizens and civil society.

18. March 2025.

Plenković negotiates views on Ukraine with the EPP, instead of (and) with the Croatian Parliament

Instead of aligning Croatia's positions in the European Council with the Parliament, Plenković coordinates them with members of the EPP and informs the Parliament afterward.

13. January 2025.

Croatia still in a state of emergency: Even in 2024, a third of laws passed in an emergency procedure

The Rules of Procedure of the Croatian Parliament stipulate that laws are adopted in a fast-tracking procedure only exceptionally. In reality, it's anything but that.

19. December 2024.

Is the Prime Minister signaling a willingness to penalise organisations that insists on free and fair elections?

With such statements, directly referencing the bodies that co-finance civil society in Croatia, including Gong, the Prime Minister sends a message that he can influence the allocation of public funds to NGOs.

13. December 2024.

Gong in Prishtina: Better regulation of online political campaigns is necessary

Elections have moved to the digital sphere a long time ago, yet there is a lack of sufficient monitoring of online political campaings from competent authorities.

Meta removes 150 HDZ fake profiles from Facebook and Instagram because of Gong

Meta removed a Croatian coordinated network consisting of 150 fake Facebook and Instagram profiles and pages, linked to the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) Youth members, after Gong exposed and reported their daily support on HDZ's official Facebook page.

30. April 2024.

The importance of civic education: What lessons can we learn from Finland, Austria, and Romania?

In countries where there is a lack of legal framework related to the formal implementation of Civic Education into the school system, a significant role is played by non-formal education. In Croatia, this responsibility is largely carried out by civil society organisations, as a new Gong research on non-formal civic education programs is showing.

21. February 2024.

The new guise of HDZ's bots: They changed names and pictures, but still deceive citizens

After Gong exposed that the ruling party is using a multitude of bots on its official Facebook page to artificially support the insults against the opposition and protesters, HDZ did not delete the bots, but instead changed their names and profile pictures to continue their activities in a new disguise.

20. February 2024.

Plenković just as Vučić: HDZ uses bots against opposition and citizens

Gong's analysis has revealed that a multitude of bots, programs that automatically perform tasks with the aim of mimicking human activity, are providing support for HDZ's insults against the opposition on Facebook and manipulating citizens in the crucial election year.

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