January the 27th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had continued hunts for those who have wrongly increased their prices following Croatia's accession to the Eurozone earlier this month, the first Crobarometer survey of 2023, and a look back into a dark past as Croatia prepares to preside over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
2023's first Crobarometer reveals that majority don't believe that the government is competent when it comes to solving the issues we're facing, yet HDZ remains the most popular political party...
Quite the paradox, isn't it? Such is Croatia. The first Crobarometer of 2023 has revealed that not much has altered with the beginning of another new year when it comes to the political contradictions. Index published the results which were made public knowledge by Dnevnik Nova TV in cooperation with the well known IPSOS agency. Major changes have taken place since the last survey - Croatia entered the Eurozone and Schengen, and the government was reshuffled in which we got two new ministers. Despite that, things have stayed the same in many ways. The results reflect the period from the end of last month and the first half of this month.
How does President Zoran Milanovic stand?
The majority of respondents, more specifically 66 percent of them, are still convinced that the country is heading in the wrong direction. 23 percent of the respondents say that the course Croatia is taking is actually good, while 11 percent don't know what to think. It's interesting to note that this is the fourth month in a row now in which the number of pessimists and skeptics has decreased, while the number of optimists has increased.
Data on support for the work of the government isn't quite as clear: 63 percent of the respondents don't support its work, 28 percent support it, and nine percent either don't know or don't really care either way. But here, apart from the percentages, there is a more interesting trend to be noted: the government has still failed to achieve an increase in support for the fourth month in a row.
The curve has turned and the number of respondents dissatisfied with the government's work this month is four percentage points higher than it was back in December. The reasons should probably be sought no further than the rise in prices due to the introduction of the euro and the government's actions that it has or has not taken against all those whi have unjustifiably rainsed their prices following the currency switch.
It is similar with the expectations of the government to solve the problems of the respondents. After three relatively good months for the government, there was a reversal. Now 73 percent of the respondents don't believe that the government is capable of solving their problems, 24 percent think it is, and three percent don't know.
The perception of the ruling coalition's monolithic nature is unscathed. A still very high 83 percent of respondents believe that they will last until the end of their mandate.
Support for the work of Zoran Milanovic is greater than support for the work of the government, but he is still seen as a deeply negative figure in Croatian politics. With his often rather strange statements and his apparent lack of fear when it comes to firing off insults, that shouldn't come as much of a shock. 52 percent of those surveyed disapprove of his actions, 40 percent approve, and eight percent don't know what to think of him at all.
Support for political parties
Among the respondents, there is a high percentage of those who would probably or will certainly go to the polls, amounting to around 71 percent. 25 percent certainly or probably wouldn't, and four percent don't know what they'll do. Among safe and likely voters, HDZ is still undisputed and has the support of 30 percent of the respondents, which is still very high regardless of the drop of less than one percentage point compared to last month.
Undecided voters have come in second place for the third month in a row now. Those who would go to the elections, but don't know who to vote for, stand at 16.5 percent, which is also slightly less than it was back in December. In third place came SDP, which has also fallen slightly and now stands at 11.6 percent. They are followed by Most (Bridge) with 8.7 percent and the Mozemo! (We can!) platform with eight percent. Both have seen a slight increase. That threshold has also been crossed by the Domovinski pokret (Homeland Movement) with 6.3 percent of support.
HSS remains below the threshold with 2.3 percent of support, HSU with 2.2, IDS with two percent of support, and the Social Democrats with 1.5, which is the first time they have passed one percent at all. They're followed by HNS with 1.4, Suverenisti (Sovereigns) with 1.3, HSLS with 1.2, Stranka umirovljenika (the Pensioners' Party) and Centar (Centre with 1.1 percent.
Public impressions of politicians and the biggest problems we're currently facing
Zoran Milanovic came in the first place with 46 percent of politicians towards whom respondents have a positive impression, second is Ivan Penava with 44, third is Tomislav Tomasevic with 39, fourth is Bozo Petrov with 38 and fifth is Andrej Plenkovic with a mere 36 percent of support.
On the same poll, only with a negative sign instead of a positive one, Milorad Pupovac came in first place with 77 percent of negative impressions, and Andrej Plenkovic is second with 57 percent. Third place is shared by Gordan Jandrokovic and Hrvoje Zekanovic with 56 percent. Zlatko Hasanbegovic had closed the top five with a very unimpressive 55 percent.
If we look at the net ratio of positive and negative impressions, Ivan Penava is the best, second is Ivica Puljak, and third is Zoran Milanovic.
When it comes to the biggest problems in the country at this moment in time, it should come as no surprise that high prices and inflation are in first place, and low wages and poor living standards are in second place. In the five most important topics for respondents during January, almost all of them are related to living standards, high prices and low incomes, and only one is related to corruption.
The survey was conducted by the IPSOS agency from January the 1st to the 22nd on 996 Croatian respondents using a typical personal interview method. The maximum sample error is +/- 3.3 percent, and for party ratings +/- 3.6 percent.
We look back at the horrors of the Holocaust and set out the country's aims as Croatia prepares to preside over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in March
Andrej Plenkovic said this week that this year's theme of commemorating the victims of the Holocaust is "Home and Belonging/Dom i pripadanje", terms which should remind us of the responsibility of ensuring a sense of home and belonging for everyone and opposing hate speech.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is being marked today, was proclaimed by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly back in 2005, and this year the United Nations chose "Home and Belonging" as the guiding theme in Holocaust education and remembrance.
"This topic emphasises the humanity of the Holocaust victims, whose identity was taken away in the name of an ideology that left a deep wound on the soil of Europe," Plenkovic said during the government session.
"We have a moral responsibility to oppose anti-Semitism and hate speech"
He added that it reminds us that "we have a responsibility to ensure a sense of home and belonging for all people, both in Croatia and globally, to oppose hate speech, anti-Semitism, denial and distortion of the truth about the Holocaust and to do everything to make sure that similar aggressions, wars and bloodshed are never, ever repeated".
''From March the 1st, 2023, Croatia will preside over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a non-governmental body that consists of 35 member states and 10 observer states. This year, we'll present the topic of strengthening education, research and the culture of remembrance of the Holocaust,'' announced the Prime Minister.
He noted that this week in Osijek, recognition was given to Dr. Kamil Firinger, the 130th Croatian Righteous Among the Nations, who risked his own life to save his fellow citizens of the Jewish faith, Margita Fischer and her children, from having their lives taken from them by the Fascist regime.
"It's important to mention the Righteous, they were ordinary people who recognised the moment and decided to act and became an example of human kindness and of those who do not turn a blind eye to the suffering of their neighbours," Plenkovic pointed out. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is the day when the largest concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland), was liberated back in 1945.
"Tomorrow we remember the systematic humiliation, deportation and extermination of six million European Jews from 1933 to 1945, one and a half million of whom were only children," said the prime minister, adding that Deputy Prime Minister Anja Simpraga and Minister of Culture Nina Obuljen Korzinek will head to Zagreb's Mirogoj.
Plenkovic appears on Euronews to discuss Croatian Eurozone accession, noting the biggest issue we've faced - unjustified price hikes
''Croatia's transition to the euro technically went very well and without many problems, and the only incidents were price increases from some economic entities,'' Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said this week in an interview with Euronews. The Prime Minister spoke to the European media in Davos, Switzerland, where he participated in the World Economic Forum.
"Our ATMs were working and there were plenty of euro coins and banknotes supplied," Plenkovic said, adding that the entire payment system worked perfectly and that the first two weeks when it was possible to pay in kuna and euros also passed without difficulty.
"The only incident is that some entities unjustifiably raised prices in the context of price rounding, which wasn't fair," the prime minister continued, saying the government was now "trying to convince them to return their prices" to the levels they were at back at the end of December 2022.
When asked about peoples' concerns about rising prices after joining the Eurozone, Plenkovic said that the end of Croatia's six-year long path to Eurozone membership coincided with the changed global context and the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine, which affected prices in Croatia and inflation across the continent and the world.
Last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Croatia had inflation of 10.8 percent, which is only 1 percent above the Eurozone average, but lower than in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe which don't use the euro, he said.
"Therefore, we believe that this situation will calm down and that things will return to normal," the prime minister emphasised, before talking about the 3.6 billion euro package of state financial aid set to be poured into the economy from 2022.
"The European Union has never shown such unity"
Speaking about Europe's response to Russian aggression, Plenkovic said that he felt that the European Union had never shown such unity and determination, with "clear and articulated condemnation of Russia" and immense solidarity with Ukraine. This conflict, like all others, will end at the "diplomatic table", Plenkovic believes, stressing that Europe must continue to support Ukraine no matter what. He repeated that Croatia can offer its experience of the peaceful reintegration of the Danube region, emphasising the word "peaceful" especially for the Russian media.
The issue of the Western Balkans
"There was a fantastic operation 25 years ago, and I think that model can be applied to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as well,'' the prime minister said, also touching on the topic of the Western Balkans, dismissing concerns that tensions in that area could lead to destabilisation once again.
"There has never been more involvement of the European Union at the highest level in the Western Balkans than there was in 2022," said the Prime Minister. "However, we must remain vigilant, engaged, and all leaders should take responsibility. Because the more stable and better these countries function, the faster their path to European Union membership will be," he pointed out.
The Croatian State Inspectorate has been carrying out many inspections on the hunt for unjustified price increases, and many fines have been issued
The powers that be have been active on their continued hunt for business entities and other goods and services providers which have wrongly raised their prices following the introduction of the euro as Croatia's official currency back at the very beginning of this month. You can read more about their latest findings, including the percentage of the price hikes in different sectors and the amount of inspections carried out (not to mention the amount in fines issued) by clicking here.
For more on Croatian politics, make sure to check out our dedicated section and keep an eye out for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.
