Abstract
An economic crisis hit Croatia in the period 2008–2014, simultaneously with the EU pre-accession process, provoking various austerity measures in the public sector. The influence of the economic crisis on local service delivery in the healthcare, water, and waste sectors is analysed within the neo-institutional theoretical approach. The main Government’s austerity strategy in the three analysed sectors has aimed at efficiency through financial consolidation and institutional rearrangements. A muddling-through adaptation to environmental pressures has enabled the Croatian local governments to remain untouched by structural, territorial, or similar measures. They adapted to the new situation using the welfare needs as a barrier against any serious reform, despite an inclination towards centralization caused by the lack of capacities in the vast majority of them. It is concluded that the concept of resilient local authority opens appropriate research questions in times of crisis and wicked problems that befall local governments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
There are 274 local governments (49.3%) with fewer than 3000 inhabitants.
- 2.
Data on GDP growth rates, unemployment rates, and risk of poverty have been retrieved from Statistical Yearbooks published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (https://www.dzs.hr/hrv/publication/stat_year.htm); data on budgetary deficit from Croatian National Bank (https://www.hnb.hr/en/statistics/main-macroeconomic-indicators); and data on public debt from the Ministry of Finance (http://www.mfin.hr/hr/drzavni-proracun-arhiva).
- 3.
Data on local budgets, revenues, and expenditures have been retrieved from the Ministry of Finance’s reports and calculated by the authors (http://www.mfin.hr/hr/lokalni-proracuni).
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
The primary sector encompasses community health centres, healthcare facilities, services providing care for people in their own homes, and institutions providing palliative care. It may also be delivered by private health professionals on a concession base. The secondary sector includes outpatient centres, hospitals, and treatment centres. The tertiary sector includes clinics, clinical hospitals, and clinical hospital centres (Koprić et al. 2016, p. 211).
- 7.
The CHIF is an extra-budgetary, central government institution. Its director and board of directors are appointed by the Government. A major part of its resources (82%) comes from the compulsory health insurance paid by the employers, self-employed persons, farmers, and pensioners with higher pensions. The rest of the revenues come from the central state budget (11%) and other sources (CHIF 2016, p. 3).
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
References
Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI. (2016). Croatia Country Report (32 p). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung. https://www.btiproject.org/fileadmin/files/BTI/Downloads/Reports/2016/pdf/BTI_2016_Croatia.pdf
Bodiroga-Vukobrat, N. (2009, May). Annual National Report 2009: Pensions, Health Care and Long-Term Care – Croatia (47 p). Analytical Support on Socio-economic Impact of Social Protection Reforms (asisp) on Behalf of the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. http://pensionreform.ru/files/4153/ASISP.%20Annual%20National%20Report%202009%20-%20Croatia.pdf
Bodiroga-Vukobrat, N. (2010, May). Annual National Report 2010: Pensions, Health Care and Long-Term Care – Croatia (49 p). Analytical Support on Socio-Economic Impact of Social Protection Reforms (asisp) on Behalf of the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. http://pensionreform.ru/files/4152/ASISP.%20Annual%20National%20Report%202010%20-%20Croatia.pdf
Bodiroga-Vukobrat, N. (2013, November). Country Document 2013: Pensions, Health Care and Long-Term Care – Croatia (42 p). Analytical Support on Social Protection Reforms and Their Socio-Economic Impact (asisp) on Behalf of the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. http://pensionreform.ru/files/67452/2013.%20ASISP.%20Country%20Document%202013%20-%20Croatia.pdf
Broz, T., & Švaljek, S. (2014). Financiranje zdravstva u Hrvatskoj: od reforme do reforme. In M. Vehovec (Ed.), O zdravstvu iz ekonomske perspektive (pp. 51–75). Zagreb: Ekonomski institut Zagreb.
CHIF. (2016). Izvješće o poslovanju Hrvatskog zavoda za zdravstveno osiguranje za 2015. Godinu (27 p). Zagreb: Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje. http://www.hzzo.hr/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Izvjesce_o_poslovanju_hzzo_za_2015_godinu.pdf?831c2f
CoE. (2016). Local and Regional Democracy in Croatia (3 p). Council of Europe. Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
Dobrotić, I. (2016). Crisis and Croatian Welfare State: A New Opportunity for Welfare State Retrenchment? In K. Schubert, P. de Villota, & J. Kuhlmann (Eds.), Challenges to European Welfare Systems (pp. 301–324). Cham: Springer.
Džakula, A., Sagan, A., Pavić, N., Lončarek, K., & Sekelj-Kauzlarić, K. (2014). Croatia Health System Review. Health Systems in Transition, 16(3), 1–162.
EC. (2015). Macroeconomic Imbalances. Country Report Croatia 2015. European Economy (112 p). Occasional Paper 218. http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/occasional_paper/2015/pdf/ocp218_en.pdf
Hoffmann, D., Miošić-Lisjak, N., Prkut, D., Stubbs, P., Šalaj, B., Zelić, D., & Zrinščak, S. (2017). Naša zarobljena mista: Istraživački izvještaj studija kvalitete lokalnog javnog upravljanja u Hrvatskoj (131 p). Zagreb: GONG.
Jambrač, J. (2017). Funkcionalna decentralizacija u Hrvatskoj: petnaest godina poslije. Croatian and Comparative Public Administration, 17(2), 189–216.
Koprić, I. (2017). European Administrative Space – Myth, Reality, and Hopes. In I. Koprić & P. Kovač (Eds.), European Administrative Space: Spreading Standards, Building Capacities (pp. 31–54). Bratislava: NISPAcee.
Koprić, I. (2017a). Reform of the Croatian Public Administration: Between Patchy Europeanization and Bumpy Modernization. In P. Kovač & M. Bileišis (Eds.), Public Administration Reforms in New Eastern European Union Member States: Post Accession Dimensions of Public Governance Convergence and Divergence (pp. 339–388). Ljubljana: Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana & Mykolas Romeris University.
Koprić, I., & Đulabić, V. (2018). Evaluation of the Decentralisation Programme in Croatia: Expectations, Problems and Results. In I. Koprić, H. Wollmann, & G. Marcou (Eds.), Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe: More Evidence for Better Results. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Koprić, I., Musa, A., & Đulabić, V. (2016). Local Government and Local Public Services in Croatia. In H. Wollmann, I. Koprić, & G. Marcou (Eds.), Public and Social Services in European Countries: From Public and Municipal to Private Sector Provision (pp. 201–215). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ministry of Health. (2012). Nacionalna strategija razvoja zdravstva 2012–2020 (96 p). Zagreb: Ministry of Health. https://zdravlje.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/Programi,%20projekti%20i%20strategije/Nacionalna%20strategija%20zdravstva%20-%20za%20web.pdf
Ott, K., Bronić, M., & Stanić, B. (2016). Pomoći Europske unije županijama, gradovima i općinama od 2011–2014. Newsletter Instituta za javne financije, 105, 1–13.
Plan. (2007). Plan gospodarenja otpadom u Republici Hrvatskoj za razdoblje 2007–2015. godine. Official Gazette 85/2007.
Plan. (2017). Odluka o donošenju Plana gospodarenja otpadom Republike Hrvatske za razdoblje 2017–2022. Official Gazette 3/2017.
Posedel, P., & Primorac, M. (2012). Modelling Local Government Unit Credit Risk in the Republic of Croatia. Financial Theory and Practice, 36(4), 329–354.
Radin, D., & Džakula, A. (2012). Has Anyone Seen It? Health Care in Croatian Elections. East European Politics and Society, 26(1), 189–212.
SAO (2015). Izvješće o radu Državnog ureda za reviziju za 2015. godinu (84 p). Zagreb: Državni ured za reviziju. http://www.revizija.hr/datastore/filestore/71/izvjesce_o_radu_za_2015_v2.pdf
Sarvan, D. (2016). Upravljanje vodnim uslugama kao faktor teritorijalne integracije lokalnih jedinica. Croatian and Comparative Public Administration, 16(2), 295–319.
Shaw, K. (2012). The Rise of the Resilient Local Authority? Local Government Studies, 38(3), 281–300.
Škarica, M. (2015). Suradnja hrvatskih jedinica lokalne samouprave – rezultati i pouke empirijskog istraživanja. In I. Koprić, M. Škarica, & B. Milošević (Eds.), Suradnja i oj u lokalnoj i regionalnoj samoupravi (pp. 253–292). Zagreb: Institut za javnu upravu.
Strategy. (2005). Strategija gospodarenja otpadom Republike Hrvatske. Official Gazette 130/2005.
Strategy. (2008). Strategija upravljanja vodama. Official Gazette 91/2008.
Vončina, L., Džakula, A., & Mastilica, M. (2007). Health Care Funding Reforms in Croatia: A Case of Mistaken Priorities. Health Policy, 80(1), 144–157.
World Bank. (2014). Croatia Public Finance Review: Restructuring Spending for Stability and Growth (160 p). http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/532211468245997938/Croatia-Public-finance-review-restructuring-spending-for-stability-and-growth
World Bank. (2016). Croatia Policy Notes 2016: Restoring Macroeconomic Stability, Competitiveness and Inclusion (120 pp). http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/876601468000628285/pdf/103938-WP-P156959-PUBLIC-Croatia-Policy-Notes-2016-EN.pdf
Zelena akcija i projektni partneri. (2014). Naša voda – analiza upravljanja vodnim uslugama u Hrvatskoj (68 p). Zagreb: Zelena akcija.
Zrinščak, S. (2008). Zdravstvena politika. In V. Puljiz, G. Bežovan, T. Matković, Z. Šućur, & S. Zrinščak (Eds.), Socijalna politika Hrvatske (pp. 119–162). Zagreb: Pravni fakultet.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Koprić, I., Škarica, M., Manojlović Tomań, R. (2019). Local Public Services and Austerity Measures in Croatia: Adaptations of the Resilient Social Model Through the Central-Local Power and Blame Games. In: Lippi, A., Tsekos, T. (eds) Local Public Services in Times of Austerity across Mediterranean Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76225-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76225-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76224-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76225-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)