A report by the parliamentary Petitions and Appeals Committee for 2020 notes that the majority of citizens' complaints were related to the slowness of the courts while the coronavirus epidemic has led to an increase in the number of complaints related to pension, social welfare and health insurance.

The committee’s chairwoman Ivana Posavec-Krivec of the opposition centre-left Social Democrats (SDP) presented the report on Thursday to the parliament.

In 2020 the committee received a total of 190 complaints and most of them were related to the judiciary and public administration (85), to housing, utility and property issues (47), and problems related to health, social welfare and the family (28), Posavec-Krivec said.

The length of court proceedings is the biggest problem in the judiciary. The citizens are also not satisfied with the work of judges and police conduct.

Citizens are bothered by the slowness in the provision of housing, illegal construction, problems with utility services, and long waiting lists in healthcare, particularly during the epidemic when it was impossible to obtain primary healthcare or make appointments over the phone.

Even though the number of complaints decreased by 21 compared to the year before, it cannot be said that the situation has improved, claimed Posavec-Krivec. In some cases 16 urgent reminders had to be issued, which speaks about inefficiency and delays in certain state institutions, she said.

If the committee has to send so many reminders to state institutions before they respond to citizens’ complaints, that is a sign of disdain of the state towards its people, Dalija Oreskovic of the Centre party said.

MP Marija Selak-Raspudic of the opposition populist Most party said that perhaps the concept of the committee’s work needs to be changed because it cannot provide any concrete assistance to citizens.

“It serves as a shoulder to cry on because citizens approach it only when they have exhausted every other possibility and lost hope in institutions,” SDP’s Domagoj Hajdukovic said.

Posavec-Krivec agreed that the committee’s powers were limited and cannot resolve problems but can only direct them to another address. It would be worthwhile if some form of penalties against inefficient institutions existed, she said.