The year 1990 will go down in Croatian history as the year when the first Constitution of the independent Republic of Croatia was adopted.
It all started in the summer of 1990, when the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia passed a decision proposing to the Parliament to adopt a new constitution of the Republic of Croatia. At sessions held on 25 and 26 July 1990, all three parliamentary chambers of the then tricameral Parliament – the Chamber of Associated Labour, the Chamber of Municipalities and the Social-Political Chamber – approved this decision.
The constitution was to define Croatia as a sovereign state of the Croatian people and its citizens belonging to other nations and minorities, a state of parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and market economy. The Constituent Commission, made up of eminent political and academic figures, was charged with drafting the constitution.
At the joint session of the three chambers held on 22 December 1990, the first Croatian Parliament passed the Decision on the Promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, thus fulfilling its constitutional role. As the Constitution was adopted just before Christmas, it is also called the “Christmas Constitution”.