The Prime Minister Should Be the Pre-Bankruptcy Administrator of Croatia d.d.

Croatia needs an expert who understands the economy and business and has their own economic program and the capacity to gather a quality team. Real players will not enter dirty political waters without a ‘coach’ they trust.

On Wednesday, when this column is being written, the day before the first session of the new Parliament, I still cannot believe that Most will not align itself with one of the two major parties. And that it will not be HDZ. And that, as claimed by the camp of the surprising election winners, ‘Most of Independent Lists firmly stands behind the idea of a joint reform government whose most important prerequisite is overcoming the personal animosities of people from SDP and HDZ.’

Previously, a scenario of some dramatic session, either of the Parliament or of the remaining representatives of Most, which would stretch deep into the night and then end at dawn with Božo Petrov appearing before sleepy journalists and announcing that he has agreed to a compromise and is starting to form a government, seemed plausible. It is enough to remember that night when Greek politician Alexis Tsipras agreed to the conditions of the European Commission after a marathon of exhausting negotiations. That is how it is done in politics. Whether it is a real or feigned breaking.
In all this nightmare, it would not be bad to think a little deeper about the idea of a professional government. Sooner or later, if a thin coalition with a short half-life is created, if Karamarko or Milanović becomes the mandate and new prime minister, the concept of a professional government will surface.

Two Electorates

Simplified, by a professional government, I mean a prime minister who will not be a party member and who will be allowed to assemble a ministerial team at their discretion. And then the Parliament will finally stop being a henhouse and a machine for raising hands and will become some kind of supervisory board of the professional government. 

Of course, from the current perspective, this does not seem achievable. But nothing is impossible. Croatian politicians, as well as the public, forget that there are two electorates that decide who will be in power in Croatia and how. One electorate is the adult citizens of the Republic of Croatia. The other is the electorate of the international financial community, in whose hands are Croatian government bonds. And the voting of anonymous fund managers in Washington or London, which occurs when the finance minister comes to refinance the country’s external debt, determines whether the country will go bankrupt or not. And then that also determines the fate of the political elite (or oligarchy, as it is viewed).

With Most or Under the Bridge

After theater experts, journalists, lawyers… why not allow an experiment with an economist or entrepreneur at the head of the government? What could go worse than with amateurs on economic issues? Who spend several years learning economics and management experimenting on all of us, and that education costs several billion euros. 

The ideal candidate for the prime minister of a professional government would be a person who has experience from the state apparatus, but also experience from real business. The incoming prime minister will actually be the pre-bankruptcy administrator of Croatia d.d.
Croatia does not need a prime minister who will have their own person for the economy. Someone as the first deputy. Croatia needs a prime minister who understands the economy and business and has their own economic program. Who will be able to explain to the deluded members of Most with contradictory reforms how things stand and in what order moves should be made. Whoever panders to the members of Most will end up under the bridge. Interestingly, the members of Most have not taken a stance on the demands of public sector unions for a six percent salary increase due to GDP growth. Well, I am really curious what Most’s program says about such situations?

The next advantage of a ‘professional prime minister’ is that they have a greater capacity to gather a quality team. Previous prime ministers could tell a sad story about how many ‘baskets’ they received when they went to form a government. Real players will not enter dirty political waters just like that. But if they have a mandate they trust, they will be irrational and throw themselves into the project. Several such individuals have told me that with the right ‘coach’, for the sake of their children, they would be ready to embark on an adventure. Neither Karamarko nor Milanović, nor Petrov, have the necessary power to galvanize quality candidates.

The refusal of both Milanović and Karamarko, or SDP and HDZ, to accept an independent expert as prime minister is almost identical to the behavior of many founders of Croatian private companies. As clear as it is that the development of companies and changed market circumstances have made them insufficiently competent for the operational management of companies, many founders refuse to bring in an external manager. Even at the cost of the company going bankrupt. The same behavior is exhibited by the ‘owners’ of the largest political parties.