PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORMS IN CROATIA: THE CASE OF OMBUDSMAN

Abstract

The Ombudsman is a public complaints institution that accepts complaints from citizens in the face
of bad actions and behaviors of the public administration, resolves them within the framework of
certain principles and reaches a conclusion. This institution, which is one of the important
guarantees of human rights and democracy today, finds application to be at various state levels in
all continents of the world. One of the reforms of integration with European values, democracy and
public administration that took place after the dissolution of the communist system from Croatia,
one of the Central and Eastern European countries, is the ombudsman. As a matter of fact, the
ombudsman has been a symbol of the transition to democracy and free economy in many Central
and Eastern European countries in 1990 and after. In this study, the place, importance and
exemplification of the ombudsman in the context of public administration reforms in Croatia is
aimed to be realized. For this, first of all, after the public administration reforms in Croatia are announced, the structural
and functional aspects of the ombudsman regarding these reforms are outlined.