The PI of the research project ‘Crisis of the Rule of Law in Europe’ Susana Sanz, has carried out a research stay at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, invited by the also member of the project Dario Cepo, professor of the chair of Sociology of the host university. This stay has been financed with a grant from the Conselleria de Educación, Universidades y Empleo in the framework of the subsidies for stays of doctoral research staff (BEST-2024), of the Generalitat Valenciana as well as by the FUSP.
The purpose of the visit is to collect data and information in order to make a comparison of the situation of the elements of the rule of law in Croatia, such as judicial independence and the fight against corruption, with a view to comparing them with the situation in Spain.
A first preliminary result of this research is the press column that was published on 6 July 2024 in Las Provincias entitled ‘Spain-Croatia: Did we win the European Championship of democracy?
In the framework of this stay, Susana Sanz has been invited to meetings with other researchers from the University of Zagreb with whom Professor Cepo collaborates on issues related to democratic values and counterpowers such as Mateja Čehulić who has previously collaborated with the team since she participated as co-author together with Dario Cepo in the chapter focused on Croatia entitled ‘Hiding behind digitalisation: judiciary reform strategies’ of the book coordinated by Susana Sanz published in December 2023 under the title ‘The Europe of values? The Decline of the Rule of Law in the European Union’ which has emerged from the research project.
The meeting with Dario Cepo and Mateja Čehulić, who is also a professor of Sociology, served to consolidate the participation of both researchers in current research projects and those that will be requested from Spain and Croatia to continue analysing the breakdowns of the rule of law that are occurring in many European countries, including Spain and Croatia.
Professor Sanz also met with Prof. Siniša Zrinščak, a member of the scientific committee of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights and director of the Chair of Sociology at the University of Zagreb, an expert in the sociology of religion. The meeting served to explore the possibility of applying for joint European projects on topics of common interest.
The host also organised meetings with two NGOs that are very active locally. Specifically, with the executive director of the Marko Tripalo Centre for Democracy, Vanja Mladineo, with whom Susana Sanz already collaborated in 2019 with her participation in a seminar and the publication of a book. And with GONG, in this case with Oriana Ivković Novokmet, an NGO that produces important reports for the European Commission, Transparency International and other international organisations’ networks. These meetings were useful for both NGOs to learn about the work carried out by the UCH CEU to identify, systematise and analyse the abuses that occur against the rule of law in the EU from a scientific and research point of view, as well as for Susana Sanz to learn first-hand about the magnificent work of applied research carried out by these two NGOs to ensure the cleanliness of electoral processes, to denounce malpractice by governments and people with responsibility in institutions, and in general, to serve as counterpowers against corrupt practices and as watchdog mechanisms to consolidate democracy.
At these meetings, both sides decided to explore options for collaboration between academia and organised civil society, given that both academic institutions and NGOs share the mission of investigating, condemning and publicising deviations from the democratic values that the EU upholds under Article 2 TEU.
At the initiative of Dario Cepo, Susana Sanz also had the opportunity to hold a meeting at the Faculty of Law with the vice-dean for international cooperation, Iris Goldner Lang, and Martina Batistic, the Faculty’s international coordinator. This networking meeting served for both parties to get to know the profile of the other university and to establish solid bases to apply for future European research projects on topics of common interest.
Susana Sanz also had the opportunity to meet Davor Petric, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zagreb specialising in judicial independence, with whom it has been decided to collaborate in future scientific initiatives given the proximity between the topics that this academic works on and those that are the object of research of the research group on the Crisis of the Rule of Law led by the UCH.
