"Freedom barometer" publication presented

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Zagreb, 31st of October 2013 - The German liberal Friedrich Naumann foundation in cooperation with the 5th Department of CPP's Political Academy (the Department for the public) has presented the Freedom barometer publication, which brings a comparative analysis of the state of political and economic freedoms in the West Balkans area.

The director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation project Charles du Vinage has said that he is aware of the fact that the title West Balkans is arbitrary and that Croatia doesn't feel a part of it, but it regards countries which have a common past and can be compared to a certain measure. He also said that Croatia is at the forefront in three areas which the barometer looks at - political and economic freedoms and the rule of rights.

"The barometer is an important and useful instrument for the development of society and strengthening liberal-democratic values in Croatia's society", said the coordinator of the 5th Department of the Academy and political analyst Davor Gjenero.

"The weakening of the liberal-democratic option in Croatia would be fatal for social development in our country. Looking at the development of political processes in Croatia from the moment of the signing of the Accession Treaty to Croatia's accession to the European Union it is clear that we see social regressions, primarily in areas extremely important to liberal democrats. This regression would be far worse without the influence of powerful parliamentary liberal-democratic parties", highlighted Gjenero.

The international secretary of the Liberal democratic party Dušan Gamser, who researched the area of the rule of rights, warned on the presence of corruption as one of the most dangerous forms of social pathology. He asserted that we are witness to the "birth of something which can be called independent justice" in Croatia.

"Croatia marks an advancement in gender equality, union rights, the right to work and strike. On the other hand, it has problems in the area of minority rights", said Gamser.

"In principle, all countries were graded positively in the execution of fair elections, with a small delay in the case of Albania. Though we are still faced with vote buying and various manipulations of the citizens", highlighted the regional coordinator of the Foundation Dušan Dinić, and he noted that Croatia is far ahead of everyone else in the survey in regard to the quality of media reporting.

"The media are partially free, they are troubled by the question of financing, censorship and unclear ownership structures, legislature, threats to journalists, and hate speech is also highly widespread", concluded Dinić.

"When talking about economic freedoms the worst situation is in the domain of the rule of rights, and without that there isn't an open market, nor an open society. Croatia is at the top of that league", said Pavle Mihajlović, an economy graduate from the Club von Neumann. He highlighted the high income taxation in Croatia as a problem, which is one of the highest in Europe. He pointed to the importance of monetary freedom and the importance of a stable exchange rate and domicile currency.