ZAGREB, 9 July - 2021 - The perceived independence of the national justice systems in the EU is worst in Croatia, Slovakia and Poland, according to a justice scoreboard the European Commission published on Friday.

According to a 2021 Eurobarometer survey, Croatia is last in the EU according to the perceived independence of its justice system, while Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Hungary and Slovenia are slightly better.

The perceived independence of the national justice system is best in Austria, Finland, Germany and Luxembourg.

In Croatia, 68% of respondents among the general public cited interference or pressure from government and politicians as the main reason for the perceived lack of independence of courts and judges, 63% cited pressure from economic or other specific interests, and 50% said the status and position of judges do not sufficiently guarantee their independence.

Croatia also came last in the perceived independence of the national justice system among companies.

Poland, Italy, Slovakia and Hungary placed above Croatia, while Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland and Luxembourg had the best scores.

Croatia and Italy have the largest numbers of pending cases in civil and commercial cases, although Croatia has the largest number of judges per capita after Slovenia.

When it comes to the time estimated as necessary to solve civil, commercial, administrative and other cases in Croatia, that was 130 days in 2019, 102 in 2018, 114 in 2017 and 133 in 2012.

The waiting was longest in Cyprus, 882 days in 2019, followed by Portugal and Greece, 860 and 677 days respectively in 2012.

Denmark scored best, with only 19 days of waiting in 2019, followed by Latvia (25 days), Estonia (32), Lithuania (52) and Slovenia (56).

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ZAGREB, July 22, 2019 - Bruna Esih was unanimously re-elected leader of the conservative Independents for Croatia party at its election convention in the coastal city of Zadar on Monday.

"This election convention, organised according to the statute and all laws, has confirmed that I am still the president of Independents for Croatia. We have elected new leadership and members of the governing bodies," Esih told the press after the convention.

At the same, followers of her leadership rival Zlatko Hasanbegović were holding an election convention in Zagreb, of which Esih said earlier that that was "clearly an attempt to take over the party illegally."

"No matter how much this may have shaken us, we must be even stronger and prove ourselves through our work in the field, because without those results conventions don't mean a thing," she said.

Asked about Hasanbegović's future in the party, Esih said she did not know what was happening in Zagreb.

Esih said earlier that the Zadar convention was being attended by delegates from five of the party's six county organisations, the sixth being the Zagreb branch which is led by Hasanbegović.

Hasanbegović, the party's political secretary, said in Zagreb that the election convention in Zadar was against the statute and that the presidency members who had gathered in Zagreb were refusing to take part in Esih's "insane suicidal move".

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