The starting point for studying the Croatian constitutional democracy is the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia on 22 December 1990. The said Constitution defines the system of government as semi-presidential and its authors state as their model the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. However, the importing, in 1990, of French constitutional provisions was not neutral since the original French constitutional text was stripped of institutional obstacles, constitutional institutions for opposing the will of the President of the (...) Republic, constitutional-law conditions for the Prime Minister's primacy in the political system in case of co-habitation and discrepancies between the parliamentary and the presidential majority. The text was complemented by constitutional norms unknown to the original. French constitutional norms had to be put to good use, interpreted in line with and legally adapted to the desired political goal, i.e., the establishment of an effective state government in which the primacy of the President of the Republic would assert itself over both the Government and the legislature. The myth on the semi-presidential system was drawn on for both the adoption of the provisions regulating the organisation of government in the 1990 Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and their amendment in 2000. (shrink)

Polazna točka izučavanja hrvatske ustavne demokracije donošenje je Ustava Republike Hrvatske od 22. prosinca 1990. godine. Oblik ustrojstva vlasti Ustava Republike Hrvatske određen je kao polupredsjednički sustav, a autori hrvatskog Ustava navode kao uzor Ustav Pete Republike. Uvoz francuskog ustavnog prava 1990. godine nije bio neutralan. Iz originalnog francuskog ustavnog teksta odstranjene su institucionalne prepreke, ustavne institucije za pružanje otpora volji predsjednika republike, a i ustavnopravni uvjeti za prednost predsjednika vlade u političkom sustavu u slučaju kohabitacije, nepodudarnosti parlamentarne i predsjedničke (...) većine. Tekst je nadograđen ustavnim normama nepoznatima originalu. Francuske je ustavne norme bilo potrebno instrumentalizirati, protumačiti i pravno prilagoditi poželjnom političkom cilju: uspostavi djelotvorne državne vlasti u kojoj se nadmoć predsjednika republike širi i na vladu i zakonodavnu vlast. Mit o polupredsjedničkom sustavu poslužio je i za usvajanje odredbi o ustrojstvu vlasti u Ustavu Hrvatske i prilikom izmjene tih odredbi Ustavnim promjenama iz 2000. godine. (shrink)