Impact of the European Semester on Fiscal Policy and Structural Reform Indicators of the Member States - A Case Study of the Republic of Croatia from 2014 to 2020

Republika Hrvatska od 2014. godine punopravno sudjeluje u ciklusu Europskog semestra, unutar kojeg se, putem ispunjanja preporuka Europske komisije, usklađuju proračunske i gospodarske politike država članica na razini Europske unije. Ovaj rad nastoji istražiti učinak ciklusa Europskog semestra na fiskalnu politiku i pokazatelje strukturnih reformi u Republici Hrvatskoj od 2014. do 2020. godine. Potreba za analiziranjem ove teme proizlazi iz činjenice da Republika Hrvatska bilježi niski postotak ispunjenja specifičnih preporuka Europske komisije, kao i djelomično, ili pak potpuno neprovođenje strukturnih reformi. Stoga, cilj istraživanja je determinacija najznačajnijih razloga na ispunjenja preporuka Europske komisije koji se odnose na provođenje strukturnih reformi. U metodološkom smislu, primijenjena je studija slučaja jedne države te su analizirani kvantitativni (prikupljeni iz statističkih baza podataka) kao i kvalitatativni (službena izvješća Europske komisije i Europskog parlamenta te Vlade Republike Hrvatske) izvori podataka. Provedeno istraživanje je pokazalo kako Republika Hrvatska slabo provodi specifične preporuke Europske komisije i upućene strukturne reforme, s obzirom na snažnu prisutnost klijentelizma i fragmentiranog političkog sustava. Odgovor na pitanje u ovom istraživanju se nudi iz ekonomske i politološke perspektive, odnosno uzimajući u obzir političko-ekonomski kontekst Republike Hrvatske, što daje znanstveni doprinos istraživanju ove teme u području političke ekonomije.Since 2014, the Republic of Croatia has been fully participating in the European Semester cycle, within which, by fulfilling the recommendations of the European Commission, the budgetary and economic policies of the Member States at the level of the European Union are harmonized. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of the European Semester cycle on fiscal policy and structural reform indicators in the Republic of Croatia from 2014 to 2020. The need to analyse this topic stems from the fact that the Republic of Croatia records a low percentage of fulfilment of specific recommendations of the European Commission, as well as partial or complete non-implementation of structural reforms. Therefore, the aim of the research is to determine the most important reasons for fulfilling the recommendations of the European Commission related to the implementation of structural reforms. In methodological terms, a case study of one country was applied and quantitative (collected from statistical databases) as well as qualitative (official reports of the European Commission, European Parliament, and the Government of the Republic of Croatia) data sources were analysed. The conducted research showed that the Republic of Croatia is poorly implementing the specific recommendations of the European Commission and the structural reforms, given the strong presence of clientelism and a fragmented political system. The answer to the question in this research is offered from an economic and political science perspective, by considering the political and economic context of the Republic of Croatia, which gives a scientific contribution to the research of this topic in the field of political economy