Croatia

• Mediterranean and continental;
• continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters;
• mild winters, dry summers along coast

• air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests;
• coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste;
• landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife

party to:

Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

0-14 years:

18.3% (male 415,873; female 394,414)

15-64 years:

66.1% (male 1,465,488; female 1,454,778)

65 years and over:

15.6% (male 258,943; female 432,752) (2003 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.6 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (2003 est.)

noun:

Croat(s), Croatian(s)

adjective:

Croatian

conventional long form:

Republic of Croatia

conventional short form:

Croatia

local short form:

Hrvatska

local long form:

Republika Hrvatska

chief of state:

President Stjepan (Stipe) MESIC (since 18 February 2000)

head of government:

• Prime Minister Ivica RACAN (since 27 January 2000);
• Deputy Prime Ministers Goran GRANIC (since 27 January 2000), Ante SIMONIC (since 30 July 2002), Zeljka ANTUNOVI (since 27 January 2000), Slavko LINIC (since 27 January 2000)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the House of Representatives

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
• election last held 7 February 2000 (next to be held NA 2005);
• prime minister nominated by the president in line with the balance of power in the Assembly

note: government coalition - SDP, HSLS, HSS, LP, HNS; a sixth party, the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), withdrew in June 2001

election results:

Stjepan MESIC elected president; percent of vote - Stjepan MESIC (HNS) 56%, Drazen BUDISA (HSLS) 44%

• unicameral Assembly or Sabor (152 seats; note - one seat was added in the November Parliamentary elections; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms);
• note - House of Counties was abolished in March 2001

election results:

• Assembly (then referred to as the House of Representatives) - percent of vote by party - HDZ 43.4%, SDP 23%, HNS 7.4%, HSS 6.57%, HSP 6%;
• seats by party - HDZ 66, SDP 34, HNS 10, HSS 9, HSP 7;
• note - these are preliminary results

elections:

Assembly - last held 23 November 2003 (next to be held in 2007)

• Supreme Court;
• Constitutional Court;
• judges for both courts appointed for eight-year terms by the Judicial Council of the Republic, which is elected by the House of Representatives

• Croatian Bloc or HB [Ivic PASALIC];
• Croatian Christian Democratic Union or HKDU [Anto KOVACEVIC];
• Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Ivo SANADER];
• Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Anto DJAPIC];
• Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Zlatko TOMCIC];
• Croatian People's Party or HNS [Vesna PUSIC];
• Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Drazen BUDISA];
• Croatian True Revival Party or HIP [Miroslav TUDJMAN];
• Democratic Centre or DC [Mate GRANIC];
• Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Ivan JAKOVCIC];
• Liberal Party or LS [Ivo BANAC];
• Party of Liberal Democrats or LIBRA [Goran GRANIC];
• Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Ivica RACAN]

note: the Social Democratic Party or SDP and the Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS formed a coalition as did the HSS, HNS, LP, and IDS, which together defeated the Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ in the 2000 lower house parliamentary election;

the IDS subsequently left the governing coalition in June 2001 over its inability to win greater autonomy for Istria

chief of mission:

Ambassador Ivan GRDESIC

FAX:

[1] (202) 588-8936

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Los Angeles, New York

telephone:

[1] (202) 588-5899

chancery:

2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

chief of mission:

Ambassador Ralph FRANK

embassy:

Thomasa Jeffersona 2, 10010 Zagreb

mailing address:

use street address

telephone:

[385] (1) 661-2200

FAX:

[385] (1) 661-2373

lowest 10%:

3.7%

highest 10%:

23.3% (1998)

general assessment:

NA

domestic:

• reconstruction plan calls for replacement of all analog circuits with digital and enlarging the network;
• a backup will be included in the plan for the main trunk

international:

• digital international service is provided through the main switch in Zagreb;
• Croatia participates in the Trans-Asia-Europe (TEL) fiber-optic project, which consists of two fiber-optic trunk connections with Slovenia and a fiber-optic trunk line from Rijeka to Split and Dubrovnik;
• Croatia is also investing in ADRIA 1, a joint fiber-optic project with Germany, Albania, and Greece (2000)

total:

2,296 km

standard gauge:

2,296 km 1.435-m gauge (983 km electrified) (2002)

total:

28,123 km

paved:

23,792 km (including 410 km of expressways)

unpaved:

4,331 km (2000)

total:

56 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 765,830 GRT/1,188,948 DWT

note: includes a foreign-owned ship registered here as a flag of convenience: Hong Kong 1 (2002 est.)

ships by type:

bulk 14, cargo 16, chemical tanker 4, combination bulk 5, multi-functional large-load carrier 3, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 6, short-sea passenger 3

• discussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina on sections of the Una River and villages at the base of Mount Pljesevica;
• parliamentarians are far from ratifying the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia;
• in late 2002, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro adopted an interim agreement to settle the disputed Prevlaka Peninsula, allowing the withdrawal of the UN monitoring mission (UNMOP), but discussions could be complicated by the inability of Serbia and Montenegro to come to an agreement on the economic aspects of the new federal union;
• Croatia and Italy continue to debate bilateral property and ethnic minority rights issues stemming from border changes after the Second World War

• transit point along the Balkan route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe;
• has been used as a transit point for maritime shipments of South American cocaine bound for Western Europe