The right of all citizens as well as legal entities is to participate in the decision-making process that decides on the rights and obligations of citizens or strategic documents. The European Charter on Local Self-Government (EPLS) is the main means of harmonizing the basic principles of local self-government in the countries of the European continent. Forms of citizen participation can be divided into two basic groups: forms of direct democracy and forms of participation. Forms of direct democracy or direct decision-making are assemblies of all citizens of the local unit, local referendums, recall of elected officials, citizens' initiatives and assemblies of citizens. Citizens can participate in local decision-making processes through territorially decentralized bodies, based on co-opting (appointment) to committees and other local bodies, through formalized and ad hoc procedures of citizen participation in the preparation of local decisions and regulations, and through civil society organizations. In order to make it easier for citizens to participate in the processes of adoption and implementation of public policy and to make them interested in these processes, the use of information and communication technology, participatory budgeting and co-production is being introduced.. By observing four different cities, this paper comes to the conclusion that citizen participation has been developing in Croatia only in the last few years. Citizens are poorly informed about their opportunities to participate and make decisions. By observing contemporary politics, Croatian citizens have plenty of space to create legal and institutional assumptions for the inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes. Each of the observed cities has several different possibilities for citizens' participation, but not a single possibility is very functional.