Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has lifted enhanced supervision over Republic of Croatia in cases “Statileo and Others v. the Republic of Croatia”

The Republic of Croatia has made an important step towards the end of the long-standing international supervision of the execution of the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights in the so-called Statileo group of cases.

At its 1545^th session, the Committee of Ministers held a discussion and exchanged opinions with representatives of the Council of Europe member states on the progress in executing the group of judgements “Statileo and Others v. the Republic of Croatia.” The judgements, passed in 2014, identified certain shortcomings in the legal system of the Republic of Croatia that had resulted in restrictions on ownership rights with regard to owners of apartments occupied by protected tenants.

The Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe presented the historical course of the issue and described the progress of the Republic of Croatia in this respect. The envoy of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Branko Bačić was Director of Directorate Tomislav Jukić.

In his speech, Jukić presented the current status of the execution of the judgements, pointing out that the issue has been addressed systematically, by adopting a special Act on the Implementation of the European Court’s Judgments of the Statileo Group (12027/10+) and the Constitutional Court’s Decision (U-I-3242/2018), governing solely the issue of protected tenants in privately owned apartments. The Act envisages five measures of housing care for protected tenants, as well as returning the property to the owners.

He highlighted that in 2024 a register of owners of private apartments occupied by protected tenants was established and that, since January 2025, apartment owners have been receiving adequate rent. Protected tenants allocate no more than 25% of their income for rent, while the rest is covered by the Republic of Croatia.

He also clarified that, since the beginning of the implementation of the Act, 266 protected tenants have moved out of the apartments under the programme measure no. 2, while six protected tenants have moved into apartments owned by the Republic of Croatia. When these figures are combined with protected tenants who have left their apartments voluntarily while awaiting an apartment owned by the Republic of Croatia, as well as other ways in which the protected tenancy status has ended, a total of 291 owners have regained possession of their apartments (21.4% of the total number of cases).

Director Jukić also presented new plans for the upcoming period, including, inter alia, the renovation of the state-owned housing stock and the construction of new housing units. As part of the delegation from the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, Head of Sector for Protected Tenants Zvonimir Juranović also took part in the session.

Following the statement by the representative of the Republic of Croatia, as many as 21 member states asked to speak to commend the progress of the Republic of Croatia in this respect, setting it as an example of good practice and actual results achieved in the execution of its international obligations. This represents a major step forward for Croatia after having spent years under special, enhanced supervision due to the complexity and lengthiness of the implementation process.

Following the discussion, the member states unanimously adopted the final resolution, which marks the end of the supervision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe over the Republic of Croatia with regard to the protection of owners’ rights and final resolution of the protected tenant status, after 11 years.
 

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