WGA 2020 | Croatia | Policies Developed

Policies Developed

Question:
Discuss both explicitly formulated WGA policies and more implicit references to a WGA in your country. You may, for example, describe and assess the scope and quality of official or semi-official policies or discuss the country’s obligations under international and EU agreements.

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.

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The WGA that is used in Croatia is explicitly outlined in official state documents at the national level: the National Security Strategy (Republic of Croatia 2017) and the Act on National Security System (Croatian Parliament 2017), which firmly and formally establishes the framework for coordination and cooperation among the various ministries of the Croatian government at the national level. The purpose of the act was to put in place a national security system that could effectively respond to modern-day threats and risks. Among other things, the act regulates the coordinated actions of the national security bodies related to crisis management and emergency responses at the levels of NATO and the EU as well as those of the homeland security system, which will be discussed in more detail below.

For example, regarding counterterrorism efforts, the first document (Republic of Croatia 2017: 12) states that: “Countering terrorism will be implemented by [an] integrated approach and interdepartmental cooperation through measures of prevention, suppression, protection, prosecution and strengthening of international cooperation.” Given the country’s location on an external EU border and requirements for joining the Schengen Area, the strategy (ibid.) notes that Croatia “will continue to develop its Integrated Border Management capacities.” Regarding domestic security, the strategy (ibid.: 14) states that the homeland security system “will comprise coordinated operation, the use of capability and potential of all components of national security, beginning from public security, defence, civil protection system, security-intelligence system, diplomacy and economy, and other bodies and institutions in the Republic of Croatia.”

Croatia’s homeland security system complies with and is connected to related EU frameworks. Indeed, the Act on National Security System (Croatian Parliament 2017) explicitly states that the Coordination of the Homeland Security System (CHSS) (a body discussed in more detail below) is responsible for giving supervising state bodies recommendations on how to harmonise national procedures and regulations with the crisis procedures of NATO and/or the EU.

Croatia also strongly supports the European Union Global Strategy for foreign and security policy, and it fully supports (and upholds) the WGA strategies of the UN, NATO, the OECD-DAC and the OSCE. Indeed, these WGA strategies have strongly influenced the formation of Croatia’s own WGA approach. What’s more, Croatia is actively involved in the field in implementing mutual WGAs. For example, as part of the UN, Croatia is present in India/Pakistan, the Western Sahara and Lebanon, and it holds a two-year membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council. As part of NATO, Croatia is supporting missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo (KFOR) in addition to participating in the NATO EFP (Enhanced Forward Presence) military posture. Croatia is also part of the Adriatic Trilateral together with Albania and Montenegro, and it continues to support FRONTEX operations in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and North Macedonia. For example, a FRONTEX airplane for conducting surveillance along the EU-BiH border is stationed in the Croatian coastal city of Zadar.

Croatia Report