Croatia 2000
The Croatian constitution of 2000 transformed Croatia’s semi-presidential system into a parliamentary system, weakening the power of the president. This constitution is an amended version of the 1990 constitution. The constitutional reform came in reaction to the six-year autocratic rule of President Franjo Tudjman, who left office in December 1999. The Croatian government also enacted the reform in response to pressure from the European Union, with whom it was trying to improve relations.
The first mention of constitutional reforms came in December 1999 when the Opposition Six, a coalition of six parties opposing the dominant Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, signed an agreement promising to abolish the wide-ranging powers of the presidency and to strengthen the role of parliament.
Soon after the January 2000 elections, the newly elected president, Stipe Mesic, convened an expert working group to draft a proposal of constitutional amendments to change the semi-presidential system to a parliamentary one. The parliament then created its own separate working group for the same purpose. The two groups presented their suggestions to the Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Rule Book and Political System. The main difference between the two sets of suggestions concerned the design of the legislature. The Parliamentry Committee combined the two sets of suggestions into a formal draft after agreement was reached among the two working groups to abandon the proposal calling for the abolition of the lower house. In July 2000, the parliament met in an extraordinary session to discuss the suggested constitutional changes.
On October 10, 2000, the parliament’s House of Representatives adopted the draft constitutional changes with 82 of the 151 deputies supporting the draft. This was the first step in the process of changing the political system into a parliamentary democracy. The House of Representatives took up debate on the final draft amendments when it resumed for its eighth session on November 8, 2000. The House adopted the set of amendments with a vote of 106 for, 35 against, and one abstention. A two-thirds majority was needed for its passage. The constitution entered into force that same day.
Note: Though no parties boycotted the process, the Croatian judiciary expressed concern that the amendments adversely affected its independence and that the language had been hastily written.