Kosor: We are on the right path to exit the crisis

The statement by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor that we are “on the right path to exit the crisis” resonated most strongly among everything said at the beginning of the three-day Consultation of Economists, which commenced today in Opatija.

With her statement, the Prime Minister overshadowed even the excellent presentation by the President of the Croatian Economic Society, Ljubo Jurčić, who dared to question the justification of the monetary policy model and referred to the governor (who did not come to Opatija this year) as a “hostage of the wrong monetary policy established in 1994.” Jurčić, who titled his presentation “We told you what would happen if you do not listen to us,” reminded of a series of previous consultations of economists where much was discussed about the unsustainability of economic policy that is not based on production. In this context, he believes that monetary policy has also not been set correctly, although he absolves the current governor of responsibility, just as he absolves the current Government of responsibility for the deep economic crisis.

Neither did the President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Ivo Josipović, have a single dissonant tone in his presentation regarding the economic moves of the current Government. Moreover, he emphasized their joint action on several occasions. If the sky had not poured over Opatija this morning, someone who came here from outside time and space might think at the Consultation of Economists that they arrived in a country where there is complete consensus about what all key actors have failed to do so far. There has not been much discussion about what they should all do, so the next speakers may still contradict me.

Whoever expected that Finance Minister Ivan Šuker would present more information about the budget for next year in Opatija was mistaken. Šuker merely reiterated that the revenue side would nominally remain at the same level as this year, while expenditures would need to be somewhat redistributed due to new costs arising from increased interest for debt repayment, pensions, parliamentary elections, a referendum on the Labor Law, and the population census. We can take as a mitigating circumstance for Minister Šuker his acknowledgment that it is impossible to change anything in the budget without touching acquired rights and privileges. In other words, there will be no structural reforms in this regard next year.

Regular attendees of the Consultation say that this year everything is the same as last year and the year before and all previous years. The only expected novelty remained unrealized. For the first time in the Consultation program, alongside the current president of the state, there was also a former president. However, Stjepan Mesić canceled his arrival in Opatija due to other obligations, so the expected blow to the Government’s moves was absent at least from that side. Regardless, the theme of the Consultation “Exit from recession or further stagnation” intrigued the professional and business public enough to fill the congress hall of the Adriatic hotel in Opatija to capacity. Among the participants, we noticed a whole range of businessmen from the “first league”: Ante Todorić, Darko Knez, Tomislav Dragičević, Dragutin Špiljak…. (M.T.)