2024 European Parliament election in Croatia

The 2024 European Parliament elections in Croatia were held on 9 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election. This was the fourth parliamentary election since Croatia's EU accession in 2013, and the first to take place after Brexit.

It is the second election in 2024, the "superelection year" for Croatia, following the April parliamentary election and preceding the presidential election. Concurrently with this election, four local elections are being held on the same day, including the mayoral election in Gospić.

Background
Since the previous 2019 election, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was re-elected in both 2020 and 2024 parliamentary elections. After the latter, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), who had fallen short of an absolute majority, formed a coalition government with the right-wing Homeland Movement.

Electoral system
Compared to last election, Croatia is entitled to one more MEP in this election, already assigned since 2020 in the occasion of the redistribution post Brexit. The 12 members are elected through semi-open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with seats allocated through D'Hondt method. The electoral threshold is set at 5%, but due to the seat allocation procedure, at least one seat is only guaranteed from a vote share of at least 8.33%.

All people who have Croatian citizenship and a main residence in Croatian, Croatian citizens without residence in Croatia and other Union citizens whose main residence is in Croatia are entitled to vote in the European elections in Croatia. In addition, those eligible to vote must turn 18 years old by election day at the latest. Voter registration is required only for non-Croatian EU citizen residing in Croatia, while Croatian citizen are automatically registered in their place of residence.

Outgoing delegation
The table shows the detailed composition of the Croatian seats at the European Parliament as of 23 January 2024. All outgoing MEPs are running for re-election.

Electoral lists
Parties could submit their nomination applications for participation to the State Electoral Commission (DIP) from 10 to 23 April. On 23 April, the DIP released a list of all submitted candidacies, with the list of all valid candidacies being released on 24 April.

This is a list of the main parties who participated in the election.

This table lists all other, minor lists participating in the election.

Croatian Democratic Union
The Prime Minister of Croatia, the president of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and former MEP (2013–2016) Andrej Plenković will lead the list of HDZ. Together with the rumours about his potential EP candidacy, which were confirmed by Plenković to reporters on 22 April, rumours have been circulating about Plenković as the possible next President of the European Commission, started by Bild and continued by Politico.

On 10 May, HDZ and European People's Party organized a joint rally in Split. The spitzenkandidat of EPP and incumbent President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Andrej Plenković pointed out their successes with von der Leyen saying she's impressed with the progress Croatia is making. The president of HDZ BiH Dragan Čović thanked Plenković for his support of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Social Democratic Party
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) approved its 2024 European Parliament list on 25 March, together with Rivers of Justice coalition lists for the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election. Incumbent MEP Biljana Borzan is leading the list that, in addition to SDP members, includes coalition partners Dalija Orešković (DO i SIP) and Bojan Glavašević (Ind.).

Fair Play List
The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) MEP Valter Flego announced that a centrist bloc was formed to contest the election, consisting of: IDS, SDSS, HSLS, HNS, NS-R, SD, PGS, RI, Independent Platform of the North (NPS) and independent candidates. On 22 May, Flego presented the coalition named Fair Play List 9. Flego was endorsed by Alexander De Croo, the Prime Minister of Belgium from the Flemish Open Vld.

The Bridge – Sovereignists
The Bridge (Most) presented its joint list with Croatian Sovereignists (HS) and far-right Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) for the election on 23 April, with Most leader Božo Petrov as the top candidate. The parties are running on a social conservative and christian right platform, putting forward their initiative Vratimo EU kršćanskim korijenima (English: "Let's return the EU to its Christian roots").

The list was originally supposed to be headed by Member of Parliament Marija Selak Raspudić. On 24 April, Selak Raspudić announced her and her husband's, MP Nino Raspudić's departure from Most. The two MPs and intellectuals, described by political commentators as the most educated and open-minded people in Most, were perceived as the most popular figures of the party that brought new life to Most after joining in 2020, attracting urban voters. Selak Raspudić, who describes herself as closest to centrist positions and was formally independent, cites a clash with the party Vice president Marin Miletić on abortion issue as one of the reason for the couple's decision. Miletić, an ultraconservative, publicly distanced from his colleague Selak Raspudić after in an N1 debate, ahead of the April parliamentary election, she said that abortion is the right of a woman. Selak Raspudić said that the coalition with HSP was not at the table at the time when she was still supposed to be a candidate.

We Can!
The We Can! (Možemo!) is running with party spokesperson and human rights activist Gordan Bosanac as their slate leader. The list emphasizes their fight to continue with the green transition and defence of anti-fascist Europe in the event of continued surge of far-right parties in the EU. On 29 May, the spitzenkandidat of European Greens, Bas Eickhout was present on a press conference in Zagreb to support the party.

Others
Incumbent MEP Ladislav Ilčić became a Member of the European Parliament for Croatian Sovereignists (HS) on 1 July 2021, replacing Ruža Tomašić, who had resigned. Ilčić submitted his list running as an independent candidate. He previously voiced his opposition to HS running in the 2024 parliamentary election in a coalition with The Bridge.

Social media influencer Nina Skočak is running in the election with her own independent list, dubbed by her and the media as "The Gen Z List". A politologist and journalist by profession, working for the European Commission in Brussels, she has over 200 thousand followers on TikTok. The list, that consists of candidates which are all not older than 30 years old, highlights the lack of representation for young people in politics. Skočak often covers political topics with her social media content, such as sustainable fashion and women's rights.

European Green Deal
European Green Deal is one of the main issues in the campaign, together with the initiative's impact and European policies on agriculture. WWF Adria, environmental organization BIOM and Nova TV all requested for candidates or parties to give statements on the topic. According to BIOM and WWF, parties HDZ, SDP, Možemo!, ORaH, DP and RF all responded with support for the Deal, with some stating reservations on the deadlines. RF emphasized that there is no green transition without changing the capitalist way of production and distribution of goods. For Nova TV, Tomislav Sokol (HDZ) criticized "unnecessary administrative and environmental burdens" pushed by the "extreme green left", while Božo Petrov (Most) announced they will confront "harmful green policies that brought farmers to the brink of bankruptcy or bankruptcy, and increased food prices".

Palestine
On 23 May, Možemo! asked the government to recognize Palestine as an independent state, call for ceasefire and stop with the "inhuman passivity" when it comes to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The party announced a motion in Parliament that will also include sending humanitarian help to Palestinians. Governments of Norway, Spain and Ireland announced their coordinated recognition the day before. When asked about it by the press, Andrej Plenković said the government is not considering recognising Palestine for the time being. Croatia was one of the 25 countries abstaining in the vote on United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-10/23.

Financing
GONG created and published an easily searchable database of preliminary financial reports delivered by political parties to the DIP. It contains data about donations and funding spent in the campaign by 2 June, including media advertising. According to the reports, the HDZ had spent the most, €221,650 of the maximum possible amount of €530,891 on election advertising. Ladislav Ilčić received the most donations overall, as well as the two highest individual donations.