The project started from the hypothesis that it was necessary for the Republic of Croatia to continue the reform of civil procedural law for the purpose of its further development and, to the extent necessary and desirable, for its harmonisation with EU law. Special attention was given to topical and relevant issues from the perspective of harmonisation with the legal system: comparative evaluation of the efficiency of the civil justice system; determining the boundaries, possibilities and modes of further dejudicalization of civil justice in terms of transferring certain matters from judicial competence to that of other professions (public notaries, i.e. public enforcement officers); the possibility of expanding auxiliary judicial services, such as the court registrar (Rechtspfleger); the establishment of a scientific basis for further development of alternative dispute resolution methods, primarily arbitration and mediation; the regulation of legal aid in civil matters; the development of cross-border bankruptcy, enforcement titles for undisputed claims, and a final comprehensive legislation of non-contentious proceedings.

Exceptional results were achieved under the project, both with respect to quality and quantity, yielding eight authored books and four textbooks pertaining to important areas of the reform of civil procedural law: the law of litigation, the law of non-contentious proceedings, enforcement and bankruptcy, and arbitration; as well as monographs on family alimony proceedings and certain aspects of legal protection of patients’ rights. Furthermore, nine edited books were also published, pertaining mostly to comparative analyses of the development of procedural law in Europe and Croatia, which ensured significant international visibility of the project and its researchers. Sixty book chapters were published, as well as over fifty articles in domestic and foreign scientific and professional journals.

The project’s basic hypothesis was to verify was that the alignment of the Croatian legal system with European Union law transcends the boundaries of normative adjustment, and that it entails not only the harmonisation of law, but also a change in the national legal culture. The research was directed at answering the question to what extent possible differences in the meaning of legal institutes and legal norms can affect the application of EU law in the national legal order. At the same time, the following scientific inquiries were pursued: what are the main characteristics of legal culture in the EU and in Croatia and how is it formed; to what extent do EU policies affect the interpretation of law in the EU and its member states; who are the main participants in the social and legal discourse which forms the meaning of law and what is their impact; in what areas of regulation do the participants who affect the interpretation and application of law have greater impact; how are legal rules of Croatian law formed and what is their meaning in relation to EU law. Special attention was paid to the problem of the interpretative autonomy of judges and its boundaries as they are understood in the Croatian legal system and comparatively in the EU. The question of the extent to which individual understanding of the contents of subjective rights in the European legal context can affect, through interpretative activity of judges, the formation of the meaning of objective law, both national and European, was also researched. These issues were researched in the fields of free market, social policy including gender equality policy, fundamental human rights, relationships between principal regulatory institutions, and the activity of the judicial branch.

The high quality of work on the project is reflected in the quantity of its results – 6 authored books, 5 edited books, 53 book chapters, 3 textbooks and readers, 2 original scientific articles in CC journals, 23 scientific articles in other journals, etc. Four doctoral dissertations were defended within the Project. Another result of the project is the analysis of the relationship between national law and EU law, impact of European policies on the creation and application of EU law, legal and political effects of membership with a reference to the importance of differentiating between pre-accession and post-accession periods. Scientific insights that the Project yielded are places in the context of Croatian and European legal culture and identity and presented in a manner that emphases the interaction of the processes of creation and application of law and the development of national and supranational (European) legal culture. Areas in which there has been a convergence of legal rules, legal institutes and legal culture have been identified, as have the periods in the process of accession to the EU in which the convergence occurred.

The project researched the alignment of Croatian civil law regulation with EU law and the ways in which such alignment was achieved. The project included the areas of property law, law of obligations, intellectual property law, and inheritance law, and within these areas certain particular legal disciplines were covered, such as European private law, consumer protection law, legal regulation of real property, legal regulation of cultural goods, producer liability for faulty products, and the law of e-commerce.

The high quality of work on the project is reflected in the quantity of the publications published within the project, among which are 6 authored books, 71 book chapters, 3 textbooks and readers, 24 articles, and 9 other publications. Approximately twenty publications were published by reputable foreign publishers. The project results were presented at 53 scientific and professional conferences. These results were also applied in Croatia’s EU pre-accession negotiations, as a number of the project team members were part of the negotiating teams. Furthermore, these results were also made available to other interested parties and were used in the drafting of laws transposing EU law into Croatian law. Two doctoral dissertations were defended within the project.

Based on the Lisbon Strategy, the European Union has developed the European social model as a key factor of competitiveness and, consequently, social and economic growth. The project introduces insights into the main characteristics of the high standards of regulation of labour relations and social security accepted in the EU into the Croatian context, particularly as regards the application of the concept of flexicurity. In the period of accession to the EU and in the circumstances of high unemployment, well-developed social systems but difficult to sustain financially, and particularly the problems of burdened pension and health insurance systems and the lack of readiness of public administration for new tasks, the aim was to identify and draw attention to the shortcomings of a rigidly regulated labour market and the social, economic and legal problems of the current regulation of labour relations and social security.

The focus of the project was not on the theoretical basis of the regulation of labour relations and social security in the European context, but rather on research into concrete legal problems relating to the accession to the EU. The areas researched include anti-discrimination, free movement of workers, coordination of social security systems, pension and health insurance system, temping, employment through temporary work agencies, regulation of working hours, collective redundancies, and the legal position of civil servants. All these issues were analysed in the context of the protection of fundamental human rights and the promotion of social dialogue between trade unions, employers and the government.

The fundamental hypothesis of this scientific project is that the Europeanization of public administration and its modernising effects can significantly expedite a sustainable economic and social development of a country, while the effects are also determined by elements of national identity, which itself goes through changes during the Europeanization process. A theoretical model was constructed, analysed and empirically tested for the research into the effects of European integration on the development and legal regulation of Croatian public administration, and the effects of Europeanised public administration on the development of the country. Europeanization affects public administration, local and regional self-government, public services, the system of protection of citizens’ rights, and administrative education. The theoretical model places a special emphasis on the theory of Europeanization and the concept of the European administrative area. The project combined theoretical, empirical and legal research and analyses.

The project attained exceptional high-quality results. Strong cooperation was established with the international scientific community, and with domestic and European administrative practice. The project facilitated connections with a large number (11) of international projects in which members of the Project team were involved. This, in turn, provided deeper insights into certain aspects of the Europeanization of Croatian public administration. The results of the project were presented publicly at several international and domestic scientific events, and a large number of scientific books and articles (20 books, 11 edited books, 70 book chapters, 86 articles) were published, of which a significant number was published in English, bringing international visibility to the research results. A large collection of articles was published in Croatia, and about a dozen team members obtained their doctoral degrees based on research done within the framework of the project.

This scientific project presents the first comprehensive study of the design and efficiency of the social policy system in Croatia. The project’s starting general hypothesis was that intensive social changes, particularly in the Croatian context of transition, influence the weakening of social security, the transformation of the model of the social welfare state present to date, and the development of a combined model of social policy. Considering this hypothesis, the idea of the project was that it is possible and necessary to measure social welfare and social security of citizens based on selected and analysed social indicators. The project’s focus, therefore, focused on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative changes of particular social systems and the drawing up of indicators for the analysis of their efficiency, and the impact of reforms of the social security systems on social cohesion.

The significance of the project is reflected in the fact that this was the first comprehensive analysis of the social systems of the Republic of Croatia, which had never before been analysed in this manner. The value of the project is reflected in its numerous results. The research team published a book entitled “Social Policy of Croatia”, which is the first study of this kind in Croatia. A large number of pioneering analyses, such as analyses of the benefit payments system, family, retirement and housing policy, where system development is measured by quantitative indicators. Apart from one edited and two authored books, 43 articles were published in journals, of which 12 CC articles (three journals are Q1 journals of various categories), and 12 book chapters by reputable foreign publishers. Three research assistants hired on the project defended their doctoral dissertations, of which two abroad, at the University of Indiana (USA) and the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia).

The Project aimed to discover where and within what period Faculty of Law graduates found employment and gain an insight into their perception of knowledge and skills acquired during their study at the faculty in relation to their subsequent employment prospects. The research was carried out by way of an online survey on the careers and employability of the persons who graduated between 2004 and 2010. The study included 1,555 law graduates (48.6% of graduates from that period) and 474 social work graduates (74.6%), which are considered to be adequate response rates for this type of research. The study provided valuable insights into the dynamics of the early careers of the studied populations, their jobs and workplace characteristics, needs for specific knowledge or skills, and their further educational needs, i.e. ambitions for further training.

The research was successfully completed. This was the first time that the faculty, in fact any faculty in Croatia, carried out a detailed study into the employability of its former students, which represents crucial information for curriculum development, and the possibilities for the development of appropriate learning content and drawing up guidelines for the promotion of the faculty to future students. Furthermore, appropriate and sustainable research methodology was developed which facilitates this kind of research at other University faculties and at other universities. The methodology is based on an adapted measuring instrument (the world-renowned REFLEX/HEGESCO questionnaire was translated into Croatian and adapted to suit the needs of research into the employability of lawyers and social workers and tested in a pilot-study), a worked-out procedure for contacting participants, and a survey posted on the LimeSurvey system, making it available to others who wish to conduct the same type of research.

It is generally considered that judicial cooperation in criminal matters is of the utmost importance for the smooth functioning of the European area of freedom, security and justice without internal borders. In the European Union, this goal was sought to be achieved, among other things, by the adoption of normative acts based on the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions. The key instrument that applied this principle to the collection and transfer of evidence in criminal matters is Directive 2014/41/EU regarding the European Investigation Order in Criminal Matters. However, there are many theoretical and practical questions that have arisen with the adoption of the new Directive. For this reason, seven university and scientific institutions, including the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, joined together to collaborate in a project called the European Investigation Order – Legal Analysis and Practical Dilemmas of International Cooperation – EIO-LAPD.

The research team from the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb consists of:

Professor Elizabeta Ivičević Karas
Assisstant Professor Marin Bonačić
Assistant Professor Zoran Burić
Assisstant Professor Alexandar Maršavelski

Foreign university and scientific institutions participating in the project include the following:

• The Faculty of Law, University of Maribor (project coordinator)
• The “Jožef Štefan” Institute, Ljubljana (project partner)
• The University of Portucalense, Porto (project partner)
• The “Georg -August” Institute of Criminal Law and Justice of the University of Göttingen (project partner)
• The Faculty of Law, University of Graz (project partner)
• The University of Turin (project partner)

More information about the project is available on the website: https://eio-lapd.eu

More information about the project is available on the website https://croinop.pravo.unizg.hr/

The Balkan Criminology project was launched in 2013 as a pioneering venture of Associate Professor Anna-Maria Getoš Kalac in establishing a criminological centre for researchers focused on organized crime present in Southeast Europe and the Balkans.

Through 6 years of successful activity, which saw, among other things, the organization of 5 own conferences, 15 panels at ESC conferences, as well as 5 weekly educational courses, the Balkan Criminology project developed into a globally recognized partner in the fight against organized crime.

The project was successfully completed in 2019, and it is an excellent example of successful international cooperation between the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb and the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg, as well as numerous university and scientific institutions in other countries of Eastern Europe.

Despite the official end of the project, Balkan Criminology, under the leadership of Associate Professor Getoš Kalac continues its activities with the generous support of the Global Initiative organization.

More information about the previous, current and future work of the research team created through the Balkan Criminology project is available here.

Created under the project “Croatian Violence Monitor” (CroViMo), the Croatian Violence Lab is the first project in Southeast Europe which attempts to break out of the existing default framework of violence, as determined by criminal legislation, and tries to establish an authentic classification of violence with the joint cooperation between theory and practice, as well as various disciplines.

With the support of the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, this project was co-financed with funds from the Croatian Science Foundation.

The aim of the project is to research violence and study the phenomenology, aetiology and prosecution of delinquent violence with a focus on the protection of particularly vulnerable groups of victims (children, the elderly, LGBTQ).

Consequently, the results of the project should provide an answer to the question of the definition of violence, the key parameters that determine the quality and quantity of violence, the possibilities of measuring violence, and to possibly enable the adjustment of, and amendments to, the existing legislative framework and the relevant case law.

In order to achieve the stated goal, under the leadership of Associate Professor Anna-Maria Getoš Kalac, 4 CroViMo laboratories were established; one central laboratory in Zagreb, and three regional laboratories at the Universities of Osijek, Split and Rijeka.

The project’s feasibility and applicability is guaranteed by the strong commitment of expert practitioners as associates and the planned close cooperation with renowned domestic and international scientists from this field in all phases of the CroViMo project.

More information about the work of the project team is available here.

Information about the project can be found on the website of the Legal Clinic

Project summary

Effective systems of education and professional training are the cornerstone of fair, open and democratic societies and sustainable growth and employment. Higher education has a unique role in this regard. In Germany, as in other countries, there are ongoing debates whether education and teaching, especially in the field of legal studies, keep up the pace with present times. Students mostly prepare for their future professional life in a very traditional way. However, new needs have emerged in the labour market. Much more than in the past it is necessary to concentrate on the acquisition of skills. The reasons for this are, for example, the globalization of the legal profession, digitization and the related price reductions, etc. The working environment of lawyers will also experience changes in the coming years, starting with an increasing number of requests, the automation of procedures to complex cross-border cases involving multiple jurisdictions. All these changes in the traditional labour market seek for the adjustment of education as students will not be able to cope with such challenges they have not been faced with in their legal education. Therefore, legal education requires a new way of thinking that, in addition to innovative research, will deal with new interdisciplinary topics and the improvement of transversal (soft skills) skills. The strategic partnership of several European universities is not only focused on the development of basic skills, but in particular on the training of students’ cross-sectoral competences. For this reason, the project is dedicated to the modernization of legal education. As part of the project, the development of innovative approaches and methods and their implementation within the project is expected.

Project duration: 1 September 2020 – 31 August 2023.

Source of funding: Erasmus + Strategic Partnership (European Commission)

Strategic partners:

• The Saarland University (holder)
• The University of Belgrade (Serbia)
• The University of Cadiz (Spain)
• The University of Groningen (Netherlands)
• The Mykolo University Romerio (Lithuania)
• The Regents University (UK)
• The University of Skopje (North Macedonia)
• The University of Zagreb (Professor Alan Uzelac , Assistant Professor Barbara Preložnjak, Assistant Professor Ivana Kanceljak, Juraj Brozović, PhD)
• SEELS

More information is available on: https://mele-erasmus.eu/