The Rise and Fall of Bianca Matković

She was referred to as ‘the queen of the Banski dvori’, ‘the guardian of Sanader’s chambers’, ‘the most powerful woman in Croatia’, ‘the whip of God’. When she entered the offices at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, it was said that officials had to stand up, all ministers had to submit weekly reports on deadlines achieved in negotiations with the European Union, she was the head of the organization for the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush, the leader of the delegation in NATO accession negotiations, and then a minister without portfolio.

Her mystery and inaccessibility, combined with an icy gaze and a stone expression, were mistaken by many for the concept of power. Soon after Ivo Sanader’s departure, she was left at the mercy of Jadranka Kosor, and it soon became clear how strong the animosity was between the two Sanader associates, who immediately managed to publicly quarrel over a carpet in the office.

Kosor made it clear that she did not like Matković, and Matković certainly did not earn points by siding with Sanader when speculation about his return to politics began. Perhaps it had been brewing for a long time, but Kosor found someone on whom to demonstrate her political power (she wouldn’t dare dismiss Šuker or Kalmeta) and moved Bianca Matković to the position of state secretary in the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. This showed her how (un)important Matković was to her, as politicians usually become ministers from the position of state secretaries, not the other way around.

There, as the relevant minister Đuro Popijač stated, she will deal with economic diplomacy because Croatia ‘severely lacks contact with foreign markets’. We do not have, as Popijač says, information about what is happening out there, so we should not be surprised by poor export results. I don’t know why, but I am somehow skeptical about Matković (after several years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, by the way, was responsible for implementing the Croatian diplomacy project that never took off) launching a vigorous export offensive with her skills and capabilities.

This is more a message to the public about how important economic diplomacy is to the authorities when they place a woman at the head of that Office who has secured her position in the media and until recently a positive perception of her work solely through good relations with former Prime Minister Sanader. Even the Women’s Community ‘Katarina Zrinski’ assessed that she no longer had any influence and removed her from the position of president.