Governance and public administration in the context of Croatian accession to the European Union

Abstract

This paper analyses the quality of governance and public administration as key determinants for successful functioning within the European Union (EU). A comparison between Croatia and future and present EU members is made, according to separate governance indicators (rule of law, democracy, corruption, political stability, government effectiveness) and experience in reform of the public administration. The paper shows that Croatia by all quality of governance indicators, particularly with respect to the rule of law, lags considerably behind the EU and the Central Europe candidate countries. The low level of the rule of law in combination with an inadequate public administration is potentially the greatest obstacle in Croatia’s accession to the EU as well as in the creation of sustainable economic and social development.