The democracy scores and regime ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest.
The report, published on Wednesday, gives the same scores to Croatia and Serbia while, for instance, Hungary (3.18), Bulgaria (3.29) and Romania (3.46) fare better, although they are also described as semi-consolidated democracies by that U.S.-based nongovernmental organization that conducts research on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.
Some of the nations that rank lower than Croatia in this report are Montenegro (3.89), still in the group of semi-consolidated democracies, while Macedonia (4.07), Albania (4.14) and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a score of 4.46, are depicted as having a "Transitional Government or Hybrid Regime (T/H)", and Kosovo, with a score of 5.14, is in the "Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime (SCA)" group.
Of the countries in the area of the former Yugoslavia, only Slovenia has been given the label of consolidated democracy with a score of 1.93.
Performance of the 29 former Communist countries was observed throughout 2014 in the following categories: National Democratic Governance, Electoral Process, Civil Society, Independent Media, Local Democratic Governance, Judicial Framework and Independence, and Corruption.
When it comes to Croatia, its performance remained unchanged in the above-mentioned categories compared to the previous report.
The summary for Croatia reads that "European Union (EU) membership has not fostered a renewed will to push through reforms in Croatia."
"The economy contracted for 12 successive quarters as the ruling Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) and the main opposition party, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), continued their decades-old fight over the legacy of Yugoslav communism and who is responsible for the nontransparent privatizations of the 1990s."
"The relationship between business and government remained cozy and unhealthy by the standards of an open society," reads the Croatia report.
"In a pre-bankruptcy settlement, the government forgave taxes owed by media conglomerate Europapress Holding (EPH), raising criticism of lack of transparency and favorable treatment in exchange for positive news coverage."
"More Croatian citizens are taking part in civic actions, which is both encouraging and reveals the divisions in society. Croatians took a more active role in shaping electoral legislation in 2014. However, there is concern that interest groups are using referendums to circumvent the legislative process. During the year, some groups petitioned for referendums to address strategic economic goals while others had the goal of restricting minority rights," according to Freedom House.
The section "Independent Media" mentions the case of journalist Slavica Lukic of the Jutarnij List newspaper who was found guilty by the Zagreb municipal court in March 2014 of 'shaming', "the first conviction under the new, broader defamation penalties in effect since 2013."
"As the war in Ukraine makes clear, democratization in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia is not simply slow or stalled. It is actively opposed by forces that are determined to see it fail," the NGO said at the beginning of the report.
"Findings of the 2015 edition of Nations in Transit (NIT), Freedom House’s annual study of democratic governance in 29 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia, underscore the growing audacity of democracy’s foes in Eurasia, where 4 in 5 people live under authoritarian rule."
Of those 29 countries, Russia earned "its largest ratings decline in a decade, reflecting the fact that Moscow’s aggression abroad is closely tied to the Putin regime’s domestic struggle for survival."