Čačić is indeed irreplaceable

When luck turned its back on Radimir Čačić, it smiled at the united media vultures. All those who try to increase their readership, viewership, and clicks on the principle of ‘the worse, the better’ got what they wanted.

If the verdict from Hungary had not arrived on Wednesday, if it had come just a few days later and if Čačić had called a press conference upon landing at Zagreb airport to discuss the results of the Croatian economic delegation’s visit to Qatar, only a couple of editorial offices would have responded. After all, along with Čačić and a whole range of representatives from Croatian companies, a certain number of Croatian journalists were also in Qatar. We heard and read their impressions from the plane when it was revealed that Čačić would go to prison, but what Čačić achieved in Qatar, apart from the fact that he vividly explained the meaning of his name to the hosts, was published in their media drop by drop.

The journalists who were in Qatar probably counted on their editors being more receptive to Qatari stories over the weekend, when there is more space for feature content in the media. However, this weekend, all business stories will be pushed aside, as all available space and time must be dedicated to Generals Gotovina and Markač. Both Čačić and Qatar are already media history.

It is said that there are no irreplaceables. That is true. But it is also true that one Radimir Čačić cannot be replaced by just one person. When HNS sifted through all its available personnel, the only thing it could do was pull Ivan Vrdoljak from the position of Minister of Construction and propose him as Čačić’s successor in the Ministry of Economy. Kudos to Vrdoljak. However, the problems that a man of bull-like strength and character, immense will, and considerable vision like Čačić has not managed to solve in these 11 months will be hard for anyone else to resolve. It is a slight mitigating circumstance for Vrdoljak that Čačić has managed to bring many things to a close in his 11 months.

Perhaps Vrdoljak will even be lucky enough to reap some of the fruits of Čačić’s labor, but, to be honest, Croatian economy has lost much more with Čačić’s withdrawal than most are willing to admit.