Difficulties of Social Partnership: The European and Croatian Experience

U ovom se radu propituje značenje i društvena uloga socijalnog partnerstva, ponajprije, iz perspektive europskih iskustava. Partnerstvo je povijesno najjasnije vezano uz razvoj socijalno-tržišnog gospodarstva i načela supsidijarnosti, kako je primijenjeno u Njemačkoj te drugim europskim kontinentalnim zemljama nakon Drugoga svjetskog rata. Isto je razumijevanje socijalnog partnerstva ugrađeno i u temelje Europske unije. Međutim, kasniji je razvoj doveo do toga da se društvena uloga socijalnih partnera širi te oni više nisu samo konzultativni partneri, već ravnopravni akteri u procesu vladanja Unijom. Ipak, taj proces nije lišen mnogobrojnih teškoća. Socijalno je partnerstvo suočeno s neprestanim propitivanjima, jer je stari model socijalnog dijaloga bio sukladan nacionalnim socijalnim modelima, koji danas slabe zbog globalizacijskih i privatizacijskih procesa. Usprkos problemima i nedorečenostima, europsko je iskustvo vrlo važno postkomunističkim zemljama, pa tako i Hrvatskoj. Postkomunistički je razvoj delegitimirao mnogobrojne socijalne vrijednosti, a što je dovelo do posvemašnje društvene marginalizacije svih nedržavnih aktera, osobito sindikata te organizacija civilnog društva. Socijalni se dijalog njeguje tek manifestno i to gotovo isključivo na nacionalnoj razini, a ne i na razini poduzeća, industrijskih grana te nižih razina vlasti. Nasuprot tome, ovaj rad upozorava da je bez daleko veće uloge socijalnih i civilnih partnera društveni razvoj postkomunističke Hrvatske bitno ograničen, te da postojeći političko-institucionalni okvir socijalnog dijaloga treba popuniti primjerenim sadržajem.This paper analyses the significance and social role of social partnership, primarily from the perspective of the European experience. Historically speaking, partnership is most clearly connected with the development of social-market economy and the principle of subsidiarity, as it was applied in Germany and other European continental countries after World War II. The same understanding of social partnership was built into the foundations of the establishment of the European Union. However, later development led to the expansion of the social roles of social partnership, so that they became not only the consulting partners, but equal actors in the process of governing the Union. Yet this process does not lack numerous difficulties. Social partnership is faced with constant questioning, as the old model of social dialogue was consistent with the national social models, which are being weakened today, due to processes of globalization and privatisation. In spite of its problems and understatements, the European experience is very important to post-communist countries, including Croatia. The post-communist development stripped many social values of legitimacy, which led to thorough social marginalisation of all non-state actors, especially unions and civil society organisations. Social dialogue is fostered only demonstratively, almost exclusively on the national level, and not on the level of companies, branches of industry and lower levels of government. Contrary to that, this paper warns that the social development of post-communist Croatia is significantly limited without a far greater role of social and civic partners, and that the existing political-institutional framework of the social dialogue should be filled with the appropriate content