March 10, 2020 - There isn’t any amount money that would lure us back to Croatia, according to emigrants who responded to Prime Minister Plenković's recent financial incentive proposal to encourage their return. Croatian politicians and PM Andrej Plenković are clearly not listening to what emigrants are saying. Money is not the only reason they left, and it’s not even the main reason.

Uhljeb | Facebook

Croatia Mindset Must Change by 300 Percent

The mindset would have to change by 300 percent me to return to Croatia, explained a Zagreb man to Anamarija Burazer/24 Sata on March 10, 2020. He moved with his family to Cork, Ireland a few years ago. Upon being asked why they had moved out, he responded:

“I left because of the bunch of uhljebi (incompetent public sector employees) who are fed by the private sector so they can play solitaire. Then they release pedophiles and murderers while punishing grandmothers for cooking brandy. Politicians are working only for themselves and their own seats and citizens in Croatia feel like second-class citizens…"

In 2018, 24 Sata published the stories of several emigrants, all of whom who have sought happiness throughout the globe. However, they all agree about one thing: they have escaped injustice.

Considering that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic just announced financial incentive measures to encourage Croatians to return home; 24 Sata checked in with several interviewees for the two-year-old series regarding the Prime Minister’s proposed incentives.

Domagoj Starcević | Facebook

Employees Have More Rights in Germany

“I have no plans to return to Croatia, and it’s unfortunate that I have more rights as an employee in Germany than I do as an employee in my own country,” Domagoj Starcević (29) reveals. He has lived in Munich for five years and is working as a chef. He still recommends that Croatians who are considering moving away do so.

“For me to return, they would have to offer me a job with two days off per week, a higher salary which is fully reported, and a guaranteed paycheck on the same day of every month,” he added.

Emigrants Find Work, Friends, Purpose Abroad

Since 2016, chemistry engineer Matea Večeric (27) has been living in faraway Japan.

“I would not go back, because once you find your place under the sun and a purpose, a life goal and create a circle of people around you that make you happy, there is nothing anyone can offer to lure me back. If I had had that from the beginning in Croatia, I might not have left,” Matea pointed out. The only thing that could bring her home is her family.

"For now, I continue on my path here in Japan,” she said and reports that she earns three times more in Japan than she did in her home country.

“There are many more opportunities to move forward and live stress-free,” Matea concluded.

Working to Live, Rather Than Survive

Zagreb's Sara Tešanović (30) moved to Germany three years ago with her boyfriend. There, she says, they work to live. In Croatia, they worked to survive.

“Whatever the Prime Minister and other politicians offer us will not provide a sufficient reason to return. It's not about money, it's about the whole situation. So, I wouldn't go back and there is nothing that these people can offer me to come back to,” Sara states decisively.

Andrea Simunović (26) also moved out of Croatia and he believes that the announcement of Prime Minister Plenkovic is just a new election trick.

"I don't think anyone will come back for that," she said.

Government: No Details on Financial Incentive Plan

Labor and Pension Minister Josip Aladrović says that Croatia has implemented new employment measures since the beginning of the year. He did not explain how he intended to stimulate the return of Croatian emigrants.

There is a brick wall in Imotski (home of the recent gay couple effigy burning), with the names of Croatians who have left the country. According to the latest figures: 189,000 people have emigrated from Croatia in the last five years. The emigration has not stopped and there are more and more names on the wall.

Follow our Politics page to keep updated on the demographic outlook in Croatia.

March 10, 2020 – On Sunday evening Croatia Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced a bold financial incentive to encourage emigrants to return to Croatia from abroad.

“The Ministry of Labour is preparing a new measure – a financial incentive measure for the return of our people who have temporarily gone abroad. We will financially support them to return,” Plenković said at the presentation of his team "Boldly for Croatia" at the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) elections in the crowded hall of the Radisson Blu hotel in Split, which was greeted by applause.

HDZ Speeches Frequently Interrupted by Wild Applause

Raucous applause interrupted his speech several times. That was followed by speeches from Toma Medved, candidate for HDZ deputy president and the four candidates for the party's vice-presidents, Zdravka Bušić, Ivan Anušić, Branko Bačić and Oleg Butković. In their speeches, they rejected claims that HDZ had moved to the left and highlighted the success of the government under Plenković's leadership as reported by 24 Sata on March 8, 2020.

“We are six friends, but we are not the same, none of us owe anything to anyone. Nor do we share the same opinions on every topic. However, what connects us is the same vision, the same direction for HDZ and a common program that contains everything that matters to HDZ,” emphasized Plenković.

"Boldly for Croatia" | HDZ

Internal Elections for Sharing Ideas, Not Criticism

The HDZ president urged party members to support his team "Boldly for Croatia" in the elections, stressing the importance of unity in a party which has room for everyone, and for colleagues who are on other teams.

“These internal party elections should be an opportunity to compete about ideas surrounding Croatia's program and vision. They should not be used as an opportunity to criticize one another as if I were listening to and taking arrows from opposition parties. This is not the point of internal party elections. The purpose of internal elections is to maintain appropriate communication within the (party) framework and after which we will continue to cooperate in a normal manner,” said Plenković.

We Are Stronger as United Party

He stressed that the HDZ unity is important in the upcoming parliamentary elections because, he recalled, whenever HDZ is unified – they have success. And when they are not united – the party is in trouble.

“That's why it's important for us to stick together. There is room for everyone, and room for colleagues on other teams who have their own ideas and ambitions - I respect that,” added Plenković.

He noted that the difference is that his team is aware of the government's achievements over the past four years.

Croatia Achieved Sovereign Goals Under Tuđman

He dismissed the remarks of those (right wing) parties who condemn the HDZ's lack of sovereignty and stressed that Croatia had already achieved its sovereign goals under the first Croatian president, Franjo Tuđman. He added that he and his team are following Tuđman's policies.

“It is easy to push irresponsibly for mild populism, to raise passion, and promote falsehoods,” Plenković concluded, dismissing criticism of HDZ’s approach regarding sovereignty.

Follow our Politics page for details on the Prime Minister’s recent financial offer to Croatian emigrants, and their response.

ZAGREB, March 7, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković says in an interview with the Večernji List daily that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) positions itself firmly as a centre-right party that enables the highest number of the citizens to be gathered around the values of patriotism and Christian Democratic values.

Plenković said in the interview published on Saturday that the HDZ would first complete the ongoing process of the intra-party elections and that it would embark on preparations for the parliamentary elections so as to clinch one more victory.

As for the counter-candidate for the HDZ presidency, Miro Kovac and his team, Plenković describes them as people pursing alternative policies without any potential for coalitions.

Upon the completion of the elections in the party, we will search for (coalition) partners on the ground of their programmes and worldviews, the premier and the HDZ leader says.

He went on to say that the HDZ and Croatia's leadership "will be stakeholders and we will not push Croatia into isolationism".

Croatia's sovereignty can be bolstered by the country's stronger position in the European Union and by exerting its influence on regional, European and global developments, he explained.

In this context Plenković also gave an overview of the activities Zagreb is taking during the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020.

He promised the committed work on the issues crucial for the Croatian state. demographic revitalisation, economic growth, balanced development of the country, making the judiciary more efficient.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 29, 2020 - The candidate for the president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Miro Kovač, on Friday submitted more than 17,000 signatures supporting his bid, as well as signatures supporting candidates from his team for deputy president and vice-presidents.

The candidate for deputy president, Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava, submitted 16,718 signatures, while the candidates for vice-presidents Milijan Brkić, Tomislav Tolušić and Davor Ivo Stier submitted 16,262, 15,976 and 16,283 signatures respectively.

Kovač said that they had received very positive responses on the ground, adding that party members wanted change knowing that in this way the HDZ could not win the forthcoming parliamentary election, due in the autumn.

"The current HDZ leadership and the current president have no coalition potential. The people in my team have a profile that guarantees that we will be able to win the election for the Croatian parliament and form the next government," Kovac told the press.

He said that they were looking forward to a competition within the party, noting that their colleagues from the rival team, led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, were not their opponents but friends whom they wanted to "defeat in a sportsmanlike fashion."

Kovač said that there was place for all the people in the party and that he would not divide the party. He said he was looking forward to competing with the incumbent party president, Andrej Plenković.

Asked if he was satisfied with the number of signatures collected, given that the other team had collected considerably more, Kovač said that they did not want to exhaust themselves collecting signatures, noting that the number of signatures collected for the last presidential election was not decisive.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković and his campaign team on Thursday handed in to the party's election commission lists with more than 45,000 signatures of HDZ members supporting his candidacy for HDZ president as well as lists with signatures supporting candidates for deputy president and vice-presidents.

Plenković arrived at the HDZ headquarters accompanied by some 200 party members, including many government ministers.

He collected the signatures of 45,792 party members, while Tomo Medved, who was nominated for HDZ deputy president, collected 38,909 signatures. The candidates for HDZ vice-presidents, Oleg Butković, Zdravka Bušić, Branko Bačić and Ivan Anušić, each collected more than 30,000 signatures.

Plenković said that his team's platform was also the platform for the coming parliamentary elections.

He said the team's campaign, which would start on March 1, would be constructive and positive, and that after the intraparty elections, set for March 15, the HDZ would be stronger, more united and ready for victory in the parliamentary elections.

Asked by reporters if his coming to the party offices in the company of some 200 people was a demonstration of power and a message to his rivals in intraparty elections, Plenković said that his team enjoyed great support in the party and on the ground and that many wanted to attend the submission of lists with signatures.

Answering a reporter's question, he said that he would be able to continue cooperating with his rivals regardless of a possible exchange of strongly-worded statements.

"Yes, but we first have to make an effort so that the six of us win the elections," he said.

He added that there would be room in the party for Davor Ivo Stier, who is in rival Miro Kovac's campaign team, "also after he loses in these elections."

Asked if he expected agreement to be reached with ethnic minority MPs regarding the adoption of amendments to the Census Act, Plenković said that a meeting of the parliamentary majority would be held on Friday morning and that he expected agreement to be reached on the matter.

He also said that he did not intend to "make any offers" regarding the bill, recalling the government and HDZ's position that the law in question was a technical law that should be adopted so that everyone could prepare for the census.

Noting that the bill had been put to public consultation, Plenković said that the provisions which minority MPs were asking for did not exist in neighbouring countries where Croats are a minority and some of the minority MPs were part of a majority.

He said that there had been no discrimination in the selection of census takers and that some issues could be regulated by instructions to be issued during the census.

He expressed confidence that the law would be adopted by the parliament.

Plenković also said that regardless of possible attempts, nobody would topple the government before the end of the term of the current parliamentary majority and parliament.

"When that happens, we will be the ones to decide about it," he said.

Asked how the government would regulate Sunday work, he said that they wanted to reduce the intensity of work, notably of people who work in shops on Sundays, thus protecting family values.

He stressed that the government was closest to the Austrian model which limits the number of working Sundays.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of February, 2020, restricting the work of shops on Sundays seems to be a new stumbling block in the Government of PM Andrej Plenkovic, according to a report from Jutarnji list on Saturday.

The Croatian Government, as it stands now, will have a hard time pushing for a proposal in Parliament to restrict the operation of shops on Sundays, and it also indicates that the topic could spark fraying relations between the parties in the ruling coalition once again. HNS has announced that it will not support HDZ's proposal to put the key in the locks of shop doors on Sundays, according to the publication.

This can be felt in the answers received by Jutarnji list from the leading Croatian parties. While in some parties they don't yet want to come out openly with their official position on whether or not to restrict the operation of shops on Sundays, in others, including HNS, they openly oppose this.

''As a liberal party, HNS opposes all forms of bans, including Sunday bans, because we believe that this isn't something that should be regulated by the state, but solely by the laws of the market. We believe that everyone should have the right to choose whether or not they want to work on Sundays, but we're also of the opinion that those working should feel valued, and therefore we advocate that, with the prescribed enforcement mechanisms, they're paid twice as much for working on Sundays than working on a regular business day,'' HNS said.

In that particular party, they refer to the experiences of other countries, pointing to the example of neighbouring Montenegro, in which a ban on shops operating on Sundays resulted in a decline in employment.

"HNS, as a party for which workers and entrepreneurs are a high priority, cannot allow this. Therefore, as a result, HNS will not support this HDZ initiative, nor will it support other similar legal solutions,'' HNS said.

HSLS, a party that also supports PM Andrej Plenkovic's Government, is also openly opposed to restricting work on Sundays. HSLS estimates that the Croatian economy is already over-regulated and that it should not be further regulated, and thus the restriction of the work of traders and shops on Sundays should not come into force.

They also recall the Constitutional Court's previous decisions in this area, and fear that any restriction on the operation of shops on Sundays would merely open a proverbial Pandora's box of legal uncertainty, Jutarnji list reported.

Make sure to follow our politics page for more information on PM Andrej Plenkovic's Government and much more.

ZAGREB, February 11, 2020 - Zagreb City Assembly deputies on Tuesday rejected by a majority vote Mayor Milan Bandić's draft amendments to the city's urban development plan (GUP) after they previously rejected by a majority vote 11 amendments to GUP put forward by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Of 49 deputies, 18 voted for the amended GUP and 31 voted against.

Deputies previously voted on individual amendments and rejected them all, with 42 votes against and seven in favour.

Bandić's draft amendments to GUP were rejected after deputies from his party first voted against amendments put forward by Bandić's coalition partner, the HDZ, which prompted the HDZ to vote against Bandić's amendments. After this, opposition deputies, who had proposed a referendum on amendments to GUP, withdrew that item from the agenda of the city assembly session.

Zagreb City Assembly Vice President, Rajko Ostojić of the Social Democratic Party said on Tuesday that the Assembly's failure to adopt the General Urban Plan (GUP) could have several effects on the coalition between the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, and one could be a snap parliamentary election.

The SDP official Ostojić said after that that he believed that the failure to adopt the General Urban Plan (GUP) was a victory by residents and experts and not a victory of any particular party or political platform. "We voted for what we were asked to do," said Ostojić, thanking citizens, architects, urban planners and everyone who helped in today's decision being made.

Asked whether the fact that HDZ's councillors did not support the amendments to Zagreb's GUP also meant the beginning of the end of the coalition between Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and HDZ at the national level, Ostojić said that everything was possible.

"We may go to a snap parliamentary election. All options are open. Maybe this is a way to avoid an intra-party election in HDZ. Perhaps the city branch of HDZ refused to obey the party's leader Andrej Plenković," Ostojić said and added that several scenarios could unfold.

The Plenković cabinet started its four-year term in late 2016 and the next parliamentary election is supposed to be held in the autumn.

Left Bloc whip Tomislav Tomašević, underscored that the "game of nerves," was over.

"The opposition was fairly disciplined and each time the count was taken we had a sufficient number to bring down the GUP. There was obviously too much at stake for the HDZ considering the pressure by experts, 20,000 citizens who attended the protest rally and public pressure, and they could not swallow that," said Tomašević.

The Croatian parliament on Tuesday made changes to its weekly agenda to postpone the vote planned for Friday noon. The vote has been postponed for next week.

The Croatian parliament media service said the vote had been postponed because a significant number of members of parliament would be absent on Friday due to official travel.

They pointed out that the changes had been made before the vote on Zagreb's General Urban Plan (GUP) and that it was not connected with the situation in the ruling coalition.

There are ten MPs in the Club of Bandić's Labour and Solidarity Party in the national 151-seat legislature.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Politics section.

The author of the following text, prof. Dr. Boris Podobnik, Vice-Dean for Science and Head of Business Analytics at ZSEM, is one of the most cited Croatian scientists. This prominent Croatian scientist is also a professor of physics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Rijeka. He is an expert in interdisciplinary science, network theory, game theory, migration and corruption.

As Index/prof. Dr. Boris Podobnik writes on the 10th of February, 2020, a number of Croats are delighted when HDZ loses the elections and is replaced by SDP, and a similar number of Croats look forward to anything of the opposite. If one looks at how Croatia's GDP has changed with who was in power, it can be seen that Croatia sank steadily regardless of which of the two parties headed the country.

For some, personal worldview may mean something to them, whether they watch reports about Bleiburg or Tito, but there are those among us, both leftists and right-wingers, and those who are somewhere in between, for whom arguments over Tito and Bleiburg are far more important than whether we're among the more successful or worst countries in EU will ever be. If either of these parties must continue to rule, is there any chance of them being forced to change?

The prominent Croatian scientist then goes on to showcase just how the Croatian public can finally manage to rid itself of the chains of both HDZ and SDP.

1. Encouraging private enterprise, economic freedom and innovation throughout society

The main reason for Croatia's undeniable decline - more precisely the setbacks and lagging when compared to other countries - is that the whole world is in the mode of capitalism and private enterprise, and our SDP and HDZ governments are building policies that favour the public and state sectors, as if there were still communist regimes in the world (read Europe). Preferring the public sector to the private sector in the face of globalisation and private enterprise is as smart a choice as, for example, insisting on tango dancing because you're a passionate Latino lover - while the orchestra plays the waltz.

And that is exactly how the Croatian economy is. A shaky state that is forcing the public sector, with its high levels of corruption and stifling private initiative, to be doomed to fail, again, because the world is in the mode of capitalism.

Of course, there are thriving public sectors in the world, but only in societies with a low tolerance for corruption, such as the developed Western democracies, especially the Nordic countries or in Asia, in Singapore. In these countries, the public sector is also based on the principles of the private sector: good workers and professionals are valued, and wages are at least partly linked to work performance. This is not necessarily in conflict with the existence of a union; in the Swedish public sector, unions negotiate wages, but in a completely decentralised manner. This means that the salaries of the professors are not decided by the union pharaohs, but are negotiated at the national, regional and educational levels.

This allows good professors to directly choose better pay and better working conditions. But this level of civilisation is science-fiction for both Croatian politicians and for Croatian trade unionists. Who will organise such key economic institutions that will be resistant to elections and blackmail on both sides? It's clear to us that wherever HDZ or SDP are, the grass doesn't grow when it comes to quality staff. It happens, but rarely. And when it does, these people are drowned in a sea of ​​fools with certain Croatian party memberships.

I can say to my friends that Chinese Communists would be happy to follow and develop Mao Tse-Tung Communism, but they realised that introducing a free market and copying the West, especially America, was a necessary prerequisite for faster economic growth, convergence towards the West, and keeping up with it.

Unfortunately, what the Chinese Communists managed to understand is not understood by the Croatian leftists, nor is it by the right-wingers, because they love the public sector and uhljebism more than their wives (or husbands). On the contrary, they would constantly expand the public sector because that is what membership is looking for, and it is precisely the membership that chooses the president of the party.

Our platform, more precisely the Third Way, must insist on economic freedoms and private enterprise, not on state intervention, because there are currently too many non-experts and economic analfabets in the state apparatus, who lead firms which only know how to accumulate losses and ultimately lead the state to ruin. If we don't alter, the Greek scenario is inevitable - it's only a matter of time. It is true that the Greeks didn't have King Tomislav and Prince Domagoj, but they did give Aristotle, Archimedes, and a plethora of minds who created our civilisation, but these minds didn't leave Greece with generations of people who would prevent the Greek economic collapse. So let us try.

2. Replacing party staff with professionals

In connection with the first objective, the deregulation of the state and economic freedoms, unlike the party duopoly, we must demand that state-owned firms and agencies be run not by party people, but by the best personnel to be found either in Croatia or abroad.

There is nothing more stupid than when you hear from the mouths of HDZ or SDP politicians that they're setting up their people to do the job because that's a prerequisite for running the business well. Why does the head of SDP and the head of the water supply and sewer system need to be someone who is left-wing? Because the faeces wouldn't flow properly if the company wasn't headed by a left-leaning person, a man of a particular worldview? These jokers are Croatian politicians.

Croatia Airlines has been failing for years because they're politically fit rather than actually capable. I experience a mild stroke every time I see that our national airline has astronomical losses in a country visited by 20 million tourists each year! Well, did everyone arrive on horses, on camels, or did they just arrive on foot? We, as a platform, must insist that state-owned companies have the most capable of candidates, be they Croats, Finns or Swedes, and regardless of their political orientation.

They clearly must then have higher salaries than the prime minister because the prime minister is a political function, in contrast to heads of state-owned firms who must be professionals. Then the Croatian prime minister must grumble that he has a lower salary than the heads of state-owned firms, but that shouldn't be a problem for him if he's truly patriotic and uncorrupted.

It is better for any of our state-owned companies to have a foreign professional at the head than someone who speaks excellent Croatian but is absolutely nothing of an expert in the field. Language is not important for running a state-owned company because the only thing that matters is that the state-owned company doesn't accumulate losses. If state-owned firms generally don't accumulate losses, the state as a whole will not follow the Greek scenario, and this scenario is likely if the firms are led by the HDZ-SDP duopoly.

Contrary to what the new president Milanovic thinks, former Prime Minister Oreskovic (at least in my opinion) was the most capable prime minister because, although he did not speak brilliant Croatian, he didn't allow for any uhljebljivanje, which is why they hated him in HDZ and in SDP as well. So, I take my hat off to him.

3. Improving the position of the private sector versus the public and the state

In Croatia, you often hear, especially from the heads of public sector unions, that "salaries in public services are lagging behind salaries in the private sector". This is total nonsense and a misunderstanding of the economy, and in economics and finance, what is riskier has to bear a higher yield, and so stocks in an unpredictable market are riskier than government bonds, and they therefore have to bear a higher yield.

If jobs in the private sector are much riskier than jobs in public services, and they are because let's say it's easier to lose your job and the work is more stressful, then salaries in the private sector must necessarily be higher than salaries in public services, which I wrote about in a scientific paper article with my colleague Vukovic. In feudalism, the peasants were serfs, and if one rebelled for example because they eat less frequently than the feudal lords, then he'd be dismembered or decapitated.

But today, when feudalism is no longer in effect, that layer of society is no longer obliged to serve on a specific part of the land owned by feudal lords, and disenfranchised private-sector workers are allowed to go west, where it's better for them.

Public sector workers can claim greater rights, often rights that those in the private sector can only dream of, but there are fewer and fewer private sector workers who should be guaranteed these rights because, owing to such things, private sector workers are increasingly leaving their jobs and heading to the West, where not only do they have higher wages, but indeed more rights, and this is not negligible for workers.

If we don't work on a significant increase in wages in the private sector, people will constantly be fleeing to the west. Today in the EU, patriotism is out of fashion and when it's out of fashion, why live in Croatia as a worker? It's nice to go to Germany or Austria because you can live there in a more dignified and better way.

To stop people leaving to go to the West, the Third Way platform must educate the public that wages in the private sector must be higher than in the public sector.

I don't see massive transitions from the public to the private sector, but I know quite a few people in the private sector who would be happy to settle for the public sector. That the private sector is at greater risk is economic nonsense and must change, otherwise we will just experience an unprecedented exodus of people from the private sector.

4. Radical reforms that will transform Croatia into Switzerland, not Moldova

Radical economic and social reforms must be sought because talking about becoming Switzerland or one of the richest EU countries, as they know so well how to do during election campaigns, without actually carrying out serious reforms - only economically illiterate person can suggest.

A successful society like that of the Swiss is a well-placed pyramid where if you're smarter and more successful, the higher up you are. In Croatia, thanks to corruption and nepotism, only the stupid and the incompetent are at the very top. There is absolutely nothing worse for an employee than his superior being completely ignorant or even a notorious idiot. Unfortunately for Croatia, in the past decades, thanks to HDZ and SDP to a greater extent, the state apparatus has accumulated a sea of ​​incompetent party cadres who couldn't get a fair job through the proper process, but only with the help of a party membership card or because of nepotism.

On the contrary, there is also nepotism in the form of political strife, which is also seen in the emergence of young politicians who ascend into parties and any state legal and political bodies simply because they are someone's spouse, son or daughter, uncle or cousin, or son or daughter-in-law.

As both major parties base their political activities on uhljebljivanje, it just doesn't occur to them to reduce the number of uhljebs, because uhljebs and those who are about to become uhljebs are their members, and it determines not only the party president, but also the prime minister.

If the country has that thirty-year title of ''uhljeb capital'' then how can we expect to reach the level of Switzerland, Singapore or some other civilised country with a bunch of unnecessary people in the state apparatus? Clearly, the incompetent and the corrupt cannot be monitored, they're so incompetent that they cannot even be repaired because they're the cancer of society, and in medicine - that means surgical removal.

True, we're not doctors, and the state is not a human body, so we approach the malignant tumor of society as surgeons who also cut the surrounding healthy tissue "just in case," but what we can and must do is "cut off," say, 30 percent of the worst.

5. A corrupt state prefers inclined quasi-entrepreneurs and punishes the capable ones

In a democracy, you get power if you have a majority, and there aren't enough HDZ and SDP members enough to constitute a government. On top of that, there isn't enough money for everyone to live well.

First, these people get who I call "dreamers of corruption" on their side, which are those who don't benefit from corruption because they're not in a corrupt quagmire, but would be happy to be in one if given the opportunity. They're often not enough to make up a majority either, so the corrupt authorities are constantly attracting quasi-entrepreneurs, giving them jobs within the state. Such quasi-entrepreneurs survive on the market mainly through business with the state, and thus become advocates of the status quo because they fear change.

Both the left and the right have their "own" entrepreneurs, but the right probably has more of them. Quasi-entrepreneurs, those who, for example, don't pay their workers, enter the ruling party smoothly, so that the government, or the state, helps them with pre-bankruptcy settlements, or tax exemptions. In doing so, the corrupt state constantly wants to increase the number of such dependent businesses, and it wants to increase them in such a way as to assimilate them like Star Trek's Borg, making it difficult for honest businesses to do business.

Eventually what happens is that honest businessmen die out and go extinct and the only ones who remain are the ones the left-wingers rightly call exploiters. These are individuals for whom workers are slaves to harass, threaten, and not pay.

But the problem for leftists is that they don't see the iron boot of the state, which makes the business climate unfavourable to free enterprise. When businesses are small, there are very few new jobs and few job choices for workers. The worker is not, then, a "sought commodity" and therefore cannot negotiate for a higher salary and choose employers so that he goes to the one who gives him better pay and working conditions. Even worse is when the private sector starts hiring people the party key - when the duopoly gives jobs to the private sector, then in turn, they ask them to hire a relative or party-mate and put them in a high position. This only exists with huge firms.

This is an advanced economic metastasis that needs radical therapy. Therapy is certainly not some new stud of "professional overseers of corruption", but a drastic reduction in state influence in all walks of life of citizens. A tumor is not treated with chamomile, a tumor is ripped out.

But if both SDP and HDZ have amassed a large number of people on their side, how can we, the minority that wants to create a ''Switzerland'', make a change? If they're prone to radical change by the minority, is there any chance of change? Yes, because fortunately HDZ and SDP don't like each other despite their enormous level of similarity and therefore need smaller parties for power. If we, as a bloc, collect at least ten percent of the assembly, those who don't want change will have to implement it, because without this new bloc, they will not be in power.

Are we ashamed of sinking and wanting a rich, not poor Croatia? In Croatia, the left-right conflict is no longer important, but "are you ashamed of failing or not"? If you're not too ashamed, stick with the HDZ-SDP duopoly because they're not for change, because their own membership is more dear to them than their country is. If you are ashamed, there is a third option that is for a strong private sector, but also for a strong public sector, which is not a hindrance but a service to the private sector. It is so in the west, but it isn't in Croatia at the moment.

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ZAGREB, February 8, 2020 - The spokesman for Andrej Plenković's campaign for intra-party elections of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) confirmed on Friday that apart from Plenković, who is running for top position in the party leader, War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved would be the nominee for the party's deputy leader.

The other nominees for four vice president positions are Transport Minister Oleg Butković, Foreign Ministry's State Secretary Zdravka Bušić, HDZ whiip, Branko Bačić, and Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Ivan Anušić.

The new leadership will be elected in line with one member, one vote principle on 15 March. If a second round of the election will be necessary, it will be held on 22 March.

Spokesman for Plenković's team, Davor Božinović, said on Friday that the members of the team led by Plenković had proven themselves in their professional and political life.

He is also confident that the HDZ and the government could continue to be successful under Plenković's leadership.

Presidential hopefuls are supposed to collect over 10,000 signatures from HDZ members in the period from 10 to 28 February, or 5% of the total number of members. There are some 210,000 registered members of this the largest political party in the country.

In late January, HDZ parliamentarians Miro Kovač, and Davor Ivo Stier, who used to be foreign ministers, as well as Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava confirmed at a joint news conference that that they would run in the forthcoming party elections as a team. Kovač and Penava will be contesting for the party's leader and deputy leader, while Stier said he would run for one of the four positions of vice presidents.

Medved, who is running for the position of the HDZ deputy leader, said today that Plenković's team had prepared an integrated and affirmative programme for the serious and responsible polices for running Croatia.

"The team will win these (intra-party) elections and the parliamentary elections next autumn."

An important element in Plenković's team that it is clearly reflected, is that the Homeland War and Croatian veterans are the strongest foundation of the independent and sovereign Croatia and in that light, I will play a great role, said Medved.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has dismissed Health Minister Kujundzic (HDZ) after numerous scandalous stories about him broke loose in the media, which detailed everything from incorrectly declared houses to properties that hadn't been declared at all and alleged dodgy dealings.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of January, 2020, Milan Kujundzic has been dismissed from his position as minister of health and this news was confirmed by a Croatian Government spokesman. Andrej Plenkovic is expected to make a statement after the 2020 Green New Deal for Croatia conference.

"The position of minister isn't worth the burden, the simplest thing to do would've been to just resign, but morality doesn't allow for that because certain interest groups would be affected. I'm making the mandate available because to resign would have been the easiest thing. I asked the Prime Minister to give me time to present all the facts. I asked the Prime Minister to decide on my dismissal, but to do so based on the facts,'' former Health Minister Kujundzic stated at yesterday's press conference, to which he also brought his lawyer.

With Health Minister Kujundzic now a face of Croatia's already rather colourful political history books, who could take over his position?

Just who might take over Kujundzic's position has been the topic of speculation for some time now, and although several names have been and still are being mentioned on the sidelines, there are currently three candidates who most likely, according to a report from Jutarnji list.

Prim. Zeljko Plazonic

Plazonic is a specialist in internal medicine, a cardiology subspecialist who spent most of his career at KBC Rijeka. He has been State Secretary at the Ministry of Health since back in 2016, and he recently became President of the Board of Directors of KBC Rijeka. Plazonic confirmed for Jutarnji list that he would accept the minister's position should he be asked to do so, but added that no one had contacted him yet. He believes that the minister must be well acquainted with the work of the ministry because there's still half a year of this mandate left. He also stated that he disagreed with the minister in many matters when it came to running the ministry, and that he rejected projects he considered worthy.

Prof. Dr. Vili Beros

An assistant to former Health Minister Kujundzic and a neurosurgeon in Zagreb. His name has been mentioned ever since MOST twice sought the Milan Kujundzic's dismissal in the past. Last night, he openly admitted on HRT's show that he would accept Plenkovic's offer for him to become Croatia's health minister. However, he also says he has not yet received such an offer from the prime minister. "What is certain is that I think the Prime Minister will, as he's always done, make a decision that is for the benefit of our healthcare system and for our patients," he said.

Doc. Dr. Dario Nakic

The former Minister of Health from Tihomir Oreskovic's government, who held that position for only ten months. He is a doctor in Zadar hospital, where he was a longtime director. He told Jutarnji list yesterday that no one had called him to take over the ministry, that had not yet been dismissed and that he could not speak on the subject. He did not deny such a possibility, but said that he could only talk about it if someone offered him the position.

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