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Next Thursday, July 1, it will be one year since then Croatian Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader called a press conference and announced: ‘I am leaving!’ There will be those who will be able to precisely say where they were and what they were doing on that July 1, 2009, when the news of the Prime Minister’s resignation spread. It seemed that nothing would be the same in the state after that. A year later, unfortunately, it turns out that much is the same as before Sanader’s departure. The problems were not just with one man, nor even with the entire HDZ or the ruling coalition. The entire community is not capable of radically changing and adapting to the new world reality. If it were possible, a concession for a desert should be arranged somewhere where 4.5 million inhabitants of today’s Croatia could wander for 40 years. So that no one who has worked and had the right to vote in the elections in the last 20 to 30 years returns to the promised land.
Not only Dr. Ivo is to blame
The recipe is not new, but for the last few thousand years, it has proven to have an educational effect on one nation – the Israeli. Although the 40 years of wandering in the desert were for religious-educational purposes, the way the Jews manage their state today, but even more so their economy and businesses, shows that the method has influenced all segments of life of the people on whom it was applied. When it comes to Croatia, it might seem that there have been changes in the past year. The investigative prison in Remetinec has filled up, the Slovenians have softened in allowing Croatia to join the EU, and unions are on their way to collect signatures for a referendum against changes to the Labor Law. And that would be all! Much is the same or worse than a year ago. Especially when it comes to the economy. It cannot be said that Prime Minister Kosor is not worthy, but her recovery program is an old bastard combination of thoughtless state interventionism and uncritical neoliberal belief that improving business conditions must yield some results in the fight against recession. There is no change in the criticism of the authorities either. It all comes down to the government cutting and saving, while opponents would not allow that. Only a few articulate how to earn more, rather than quarrel over the division of an ever-shrinking pool of money and rights. I can already hear the question: ‘Okay, if the rulers must go to the desert, why us who disagreed with their moves?’ Well, all of us (including the author of this text) should go to the desert because it shows that we have not been able to contribute to change. It is not a question of morality or non-participation in making wrong moves, corruption, and the destruction of national wealth. Efficiency is important. If you have not succeeded in 20 years, what guarantee do you have that with the same amount of opportunities you will succeed in the future? And what example are you setting for your children? Will they not also be so unconvincing?
Forget the Adriatic
In the desert, all those who were entrepreneurs and managers in a system where non-payment was not a business sin, where they participated or turned a blind eye to conversion tricks, where they did not act against exchange rate policies and the creation of import-dependent growth, should also go. Again, some will say – we are not guilty of anything. But you are not (we are not) deserving enough either. Because if we had been more organized and capable – we would not be in such deep mud today. The most sensitive question would be: ‘And why should both children and youth, who have not yet entered the world of work, be sent to that desert?’ And the answer to that is simple: to forget the Adriatic Sea! They would be allowed to return to the promised land, but much would need to be erased from their memory. One of the things is the rentier mentality that we collectively pass from generation to generation. We have the Adriatic, tourists will come, leave foreign currency, why bother with some production and that boring and complicated selling of goods to people from other countries so that we can buy some other goods we want from them? Not all children will go to the sea this year, but many whose parents are upper middle class will. And there they see that one can live without too much work, that their parents have a high standard in some strange ways, valuable vacation homes, and do not break their backs at work. So then the youth, whether they want to or not, adopt the same pattern. And as the current generations have squandered their future – it is better for those under 20 to forget their parents’ way of life. If they want to survive, they will struggle as if they really have to wander in the desert for 40 years.
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