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VML lends helping hand to fledgling local government associations in Croatia
By Mark Flynn
The Virginia Municipal League continues to assist local governments in parts of the former Yugoslavia with establishing an effective voice for shaping opinions on issues of interest to them.
VML has been assisting the fledgling local government associations in Croatia, a European nation located across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, for the past year. While Croatia is an ancient land, it is a new country in a sense.
In 1991, Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia. As Yugoslavia fell apart, a civil war in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina erupted, largely between Serbian dominated areas and the majority of Croatia, which is dominated by Croats in a very European environment. By 1995, the fighting had ended. The dominant party that emerged was a nationalistic one – HDZ. During the last half of the 1990s, HDZ controlled the political and governmental operations of Croatia. At the turn of the century, other parties began gaining strength.
Croatia has had a strong capitalistic culture for centuries. Even as a part of the former Yugoslavia, the communist government allowed capitalism to thrive, particularly in the operation of the tourist industry along the Adriatic coast. As a result, Croatians understand the value of business ventures. However, after the fall of the former Yugoslavia and now that HDZ is one of several parties sharing power, the move to private enterprise has accelerated. On a recent trip to Croatia, a local government official told me that private businesses now have too much power and that the government had lost so much authority that it was difficult to do its job.
Local governments had an acceptable level of authority under the Yugoslavian government, according to several local Croatian officials. In the 1990s, that authority was lost. Now, local government needs a voice in the central government and in dealing with the Croatian parliament. Local governments in Croatia have two organizations – the association of cities and the association of municipalities. Cities are localities with a population exceeding 10,000 and municipalities are those towns with less than 10,000 population, although there are exceptions. The two associations work together through SAVEZ, (Union in Croatian) the union of the two associations. The board of each association meets together as the board (presidency) of SAVEZ to guide the union. Approximately 70 percent of the local governments in the country are members of SAVEZ.
SAVEZ has been working with the International City/County Management Association to develop its abilities in representing local governments. ICMA turned to VML in 2004 to assist SAVEZ in two key areas: developing policy positions on issues affecting local governments and developing advocacy skills to promote those positions in the central government and in parliament. SAVEZ had been largely operating as a conduit for local governments to discuss issues of common interest and to publish documents for its members. VML has sent representatives to Croatia on four separate trips over the past year. A delegation of the leaders of SAVEZ and its staff came to Richmond last year. VML staff has introduced the Croatians to the association’s policy committee structure and process as a way to build consensus.
This spring, VML assisted SAVEZ in developing and drafting specific policy position statements on five topics that need changing in the nation. In April, the presidency discussed the first of the policy statements. The 40 board members approved its language and were enthusiastic about advocating the changes the statement suggested.
VML continues to work with SAVEZ to develop the position statements and hopes to work with it to develop a full-blown legislative agenda. VML is also working with SAVEZ to develop the methods to competently lobby the central government and parliament to adopt changes set out in the legislative agenda.
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About the author:
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The Croatian political environment and the rules of government are, of course, very different from Virginia in many ways, and similar in other areas. Fortunately, VML and ICMA are working with the Urban Institute, a non-profit agency that has an office in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Our principal contact there is a Croatian who knows both the political and governmental environments very well. In addition, the SAVEZ staff continues to be fully engaged in the process and has taken on much of the work to develop the legislative agenda and to prepare the membership to become effective advocates for local governments.
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