Croatian Spin Doctors

November
15, 2006
The European Union
shells out millions of euros each year
on translation services. How
unfortunate, then, that the progress
reports that the European Commission
published last week for eight potential
EU members are so far available only in
English.
We're not pulling a
Jacques Chirac, decrying the dominance
of English. The shame here is the fact
that the reports don't come in the
languages spoken in the countries they
scrutinize. That opens the door for
politicians who aren't sufficiently
committed to reforms to spin the
results.
Take Croatia. After
Bulgaria and Romania enter the EU in
January, Croatia will be next in line.
According to the EU report, though,
Zagreb still has "no overall strategic
framework" for reform. It lacks "clear
and transparent rules and procedures
with regard to elections and the forming
of governments at the local level." It
is "still some way from enjoying an
independent, impartial, transparent and
efficient judicial system." And, "[m]any
allegations of corruption remain
uninvestigated and corrupt practices
usually go unpunished." Those are just
the political issues.
So how is the report
being received in Croatia? As praise for
the "progress . . . when it comes to
reforms," if you listen to Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader. Many Croats have
no choice but to do so since the report
isn't available in their mother tongue
and, as the Commission noted, the
independence of the press is far from
perfect.
The Commission says
it's never provided candidate reports in
their local languages and that this
hasn't been a problem before. Well,
maybe. But as the bloc expands to more
distant frontiers, the number of reforms
needed tends to rise and the freedom of
the press and civil society to encourage
or even monitor them tends to fall.
Enlargement is one of
the EU's most valuable functions,
because it gives countries like Croatia
added incentive to undertake painful but
beneficial reforms. Perhaps few Croats
would take the time to read these
reports in their own language. But,
knowing that their statements could be
more easily checked, their leaders might
think twice about playing spin doctor.
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NJUJORŠKI list "Wall Street Journal"
u svome članku od 15. studenog pod
naslovom "Hrvatski spin doktori",
osvrnuo se na činjenicu kako je Europska
unija u svojem izviješću o pregovorima o
priključenju Hrvatske rekla jedno, a
hrvatska javnost o tom izviješću čula
nešto sasvim drugo.
Tako WSJ citira izviješće koje tvrdi
da Hrvatska "nema strateški okvir" za
reforme koje su nužne za priključenje,
kao i da joj nedostaju "transparentna
pravila i procedure izbora odnosno
vlasti na lokalnoj razini".
Izviješće također spominje kako je
Hrvatska daleko od toga da uživa u
"nezavisnom, nepristranom,
transparentnom i efikasnom pravosuđu",
kao i da je u njoj korupcija
"sveprisutna i najčešće nekažnjena".
WSJ zatim citira izviješća vodećih
hrvatskih medija koja, pozivajući se na
premijera Sanadera, tvrde da je
Europska komisija u svom izvješću
"pohvalila napredak Hrvatske u
reformama".
Autor članka pretpostavlja da je malo
vjerojatno da će većina ljudi u
Hrvatskoj premijerove riječi dovesti u
pitanje, s obzirom na "slabu razinu
slobode tiska".
WSJ pretpostavlja kako razlog što je
Sanader mogao tako obmanjivati hrvatsku
javnost leži u činjenici što je
izviješće objavljeno isključivo na
engleskom jeziku, što je bila uobičajena
praksa prilikom prethodnih proširivanja.
Međutim, autori upozoravaju da
daljnje širenje EU na istok zahtijeva
daleko veće i bolnije reforme, s obzirom
da novi kandidati imaju daleko niže
demokratske standarde od prethodnih,
odnosno da je za EU nužno da razmisli o
objavljivanju izviješća na hrvatskom i
drugim jezicima, kako bi javnost tih
zemalja uistinu znala na čemu zapravo
stoji.
D.A.