Review article
Catch 22 from Chapter 23: The Omissions of the Conditionality Policy Regarding the Assurance of the Representation of National Minorities in Public Authorities
Antonija Petričušić
orcid.org/0000-0002-9826-1174
; Chair of Sociology, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ljubomir Mikić
; Center for Peace, Legal Advice and Psychosocial Assistance, Vukovar, Croatia
Abstract
The issue of under-representation of national minorities in the public sector was continuously emphasized as an inadequately and incompletely realized right in the process of the Croatian accession to the European Union, especially during the accession negotiations about Chapter 23 dealing with judiciary and fundamental rights. The European Union pre-accession conditionality policy attempted to achieve a more proportional representation of national minorities in the public sector, which, in turn, resulted in a series of actions and measures by the Croatian authorities. However, despite serious efforts of the European Commission to use the accession process to strengthen the realization of the minority rights, including the right to representation in the public sector, the empirical data suggest that the number of minorities in the public sector decreased during the negotiation process. Exploring this paradox of the conditionality policy, the article discusses the circumstances under which the issue of under-representation of minorities entered the agenda of the EU accession negotiations. It analyses whether public administration would be able to ensure significant representation of national minorities in the public sector at all, given the context of an on-going poor economic situation and numerous different policy decisions.
Keywords
European Union pre-accession conditionality policy; respect and protection of minority right; , minority representation in public administration; judiciary and administrative self-government bodies; positive discrimination of national minorities in public administration employment
Hrčak ID:
130530
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2013.
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