Croatia has the overall Democracy Score of 3.61, which was a better score than the year before (3.64) and is followed by Serbia (3.64), Montenegro (3.82) and Macedonia (3.89). Bosnia and Herzegovina earned the score of 4.36 points and Kosovo 5.18, according to the latest "Nation in Transit 2012" report issued on Wednesday.

"The ratings reflect the consensus of Freedom House, its academic advisers, and the author(s) of this report. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author(s). The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest. The Democracy Score is an average of ratings for the categories tracked in a given year," the Washington-based civil society association reported on its web site.

At the bottom of the ranking are Russia (6.18), Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, while the best scores are given to EU members-states: Slovenia (1.89), which is followed by Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary, whose democracy is consolidated. Croatia is in the group of semi-consolidated democracies.

"Critical reforms stalled in nearly all Balkan states. While Croatia demonstrated its commitment to winning EU membership by cooperating with high-profile anticorruption investigations, four other Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia — experienced declines in the areas of electoral process, national democratic governance, judicial framework and independence, and independent media," reads Freedom House's press release issued on the occasion of the publication of the report.

"The positive decision by the European Union (EU) on Croatia's membership in June marked a clear point of progress in Croatia's democratic transition. Concerns remain particularly on judicial and corruption related issues, but Croatia has demonstrated the political will to continue on the path to EU accession, which is scheduled for 2013," reads the country report on Croatia.

"Government efforts to address war crimes of the 1990s are still insufficient. The adoption of a controversial law rendering any investigations by Serbia of war crimes in Croatia invalid and the government's reaction to The Hague guilty verdicts for two generals in April illustrated a society and state that still lacks critical examination of crimes committed by Croatian forces during the war," reads the Croatia report signed by journalist and pundit Petar Doric.

Concerning corruption, Croatia has made headway in the anti-corruption campaign and in prosecuting high-profile officials.

"Investigations have been opened on all levels from former prime minister to current ruling party, the HDZ. Prosecution of cases has ramped up; sentencing of cases is still to be tested, but the further efforts to chip away at the complex web of high-level corruption results in an improvement of the score from 4.25 to 4.00."

In the category called "National Democratic Governance", the report reads that "the EU's positive decision on Croatia's accession in June recognized the government's many year efforts at reform, particularly more recent attempts to step up corruption investigations. Corruption investigations have tested the maturity of the institutions, but these have managed to remain stable and perform their duties. Accordingly national governance remains at 3.50."

As for the category "Electoral Process", "preparations for parliamentary elections did not address two problematic components of election regulations. The election campaign began in a turbulent environment, with the ruling party being investigated for corruption, but the election itself was considered to be well within democratic standards. Croatia's rating for electoral process remains at 3.25."

The "Civil Society" category reads that "diverse and sometimes competing factions within civil society exercised their voice through public demonstrations throughout the year. Protestors organized against the first gay rights parade in Split and protestors against Hague guilty verdicts for two generals showed the power of the conservative and nationalist currents within civil society. Meanwhile, protests by workers and a general increase in street protests against the political class reflected efforts by another segment of the population to advocate for their rights and influence society. Croatia's civil society rating remains at 2.50."

The "Independent Media" section reads that "media has not demonstrated efforts to improve its performance, rather continues to exhibit political and economic interests over professional standards. Independent media remains at 4.0."

Also, the scores for "Local Democratic Governance" and for "Judicial Framework and Independence" remained at 3.75 and 4.25 respectively, the same levels as the year before.