Ustavni sud o “građanskoj državi” i “državnom narodu”
Constitutional Court on "civil state" and "state people"

Summary/Abstract: Last summer, the Croatian Constitutional Court declared as unconstitutional several statutory provisions regulating the rights of national minorities in Croatia among other the Article 1 of the Constitutional Law on Amendments to the Constitutional Law on National Minorities, according to which the members of national minorities having a share in the Croatian population above 1.5 % are guaranteed for at least three seats in the Croatian Parliament on the basis of universal suffrage and national minorities below 1.5 % is awarded, in addition to universal suffrage, the special right to elect five representatives in the Croatian Parliament (the right of double-vote) in special constituencies. In its decision the Constitutional Court states that the unconstitutional statutory provisions are contrary to “the concept of civic state” allegedly accepted by the Croatian Constitution. According to the Constitutional Court, “all citizens of [the Republic of Croatia] – including the members of the Croatian nation and the members of national minorities -make ‘people’ (German Staatsvolk, state people)”.In this article I criticize the use of notions civic state and state people in the decision of Constitutional Court as inadequate. I do not discuss other arguments advanced by the Constitutional Court in support of its decision. The article is divided into three main parts: the Article 1 of the Constitutional Law on Amendments to the Constitutional Law on National Minorities and the decision of the Constitutional Court are reviewed in the second and the third part of the article. In the fourth part my criticism of the decision of the Constitutional Court is presented.

• Details
• Contents