The event was organised by a coalition of 28 nongovernmental organisations which campaigned for the adoption of the Law on the Right to Access Information. In attendance were representatives of public authorities and associations.
The aim of the initiative is to draw the wider public's attention to the possibility of exercising the right to access information and urge relevant government institutions to start reorganising the state administration more swiftly, it was said. Participants also pointed out that conditions for the implementation of the Law on the Right to Access Information had not been created.
President Stjepan Mesic highlighted the importance of the organisation of civil society institutions for Croatia's further progress and democracy, saying there was no democracy without transparence and respect for procedure. He added the right to information was the essence of controlling institutions, democratisation, and the achieving of standards required for Croatia's European Union entry.
Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said public authorities must inform the public about their activities, and that the relevant law should give not only journalists but citizens as well the right to access information. She added the law's enforcement was still not systematic but that her ministry was working towards increasing the law's effectiveness.
The president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights, Zarko Puhovski, said the biggest problem with public authorities was their arrogance, which he added would be eliminated once they had to answer the public's questions.
According to a poll, queries put to public authorities were answered in 25-28 percent of cases, which is approximately on the level of transition countries. The least answers were given in the government, most ministries, and parliament, while the State Prosecutor's Office and the Croatian Chamber of the Economy said the Law on the Right to Access Information was not binding for them.
The law went into force in October 2003.