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New Issue of Lider: How to Survive Political Chaos

Hiding behind the expertise of a non-partisan mandate, Karamarko and Petrov have renounced their own responsibility for unpopular political decisions. There is no expertise in reducing the budget deficit, there is only a need for brave politics.

We have worked hard to close last year, and we have stepped into the new one with effort. As things stand now, nearly a quarter of the mandate could go to waste (read: negotiations), if we add a month and a half of chess-like coalition/collaboration formation. And not all actors are yet involved in the negotiations. The Government is being formed and talks about a program that should be led and implemented by Tihomir Orešković, but there are no explanations as to why he is absent at the start of the negotiations. Whose reforms will he implement? Those of Most? HDZ? IFO? The European Commission? Who will be responsible for what? Everything is being auctioned off, least of all the actual content. People are being chosen, but no one knows for which exact jobs, tasks, or reforms. The explanations from the ranks of Most and HDZ about why Orešković was not present at the opening of the negotiations to form the Government were ignorant evasions. How to survive political chaos, asks Gordana Gelenčer in the new issue of Lider.

New technological achievements enable rapid progress in many sectors. A large number of companies will soon have their own drones. Croatia could ‘plug into’ the global trend: from training pilots and operators to the production of unmanned aerial vehicles. However, modelers need to be given the opportunity to engage in serious business. How and where you can use unmanned aerial vehicles in business is revealed by Matilda Bačelić in the new issue of Lider.

The investment project in Lošinj is unique in Croatia in at least two ways. It is the most successful Russian investment in Croatian tourism and simultaneously a project agreed upon with the local community. The benefits are mutual, and the real fruits of cooperation and investment are yet to be expected. Two years have passed since the takeover of the largest company in Lošinj – Jadranka Group by Beta Investments, which today holds 98 percent of the shares of that company. Beta Investments is 100 percent owned by the Russian company UK Promsvyaz, which is in turn owned by Promsvyazbank, one of the leading Russian banks, one of whose co-owners is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which once held a 30 percent stake in Jadranka (the remainder belonged to the workers). This time it is one of the largest Russian investments since Croatia’s independence and one of the largest investment cycles in Kvarner tourism in recent years. That Lošinj is becoming the most luxurious Russian island in the Adriatic is written by Željka Laslavić in the new issue of Lider.

The demand for gluten-free products is increasing, but the domestic market depends on imports. There is no larger production that could cover all of Croatia or better capitalize on the global gluten-free wave, especially the European market, which is growing the fastest in the world. In the new issue of Lider, Gordana Gelenčer brings another story about whether Croatia can ride the gluten-free wave and states that only small domestic producers are discovering the most promising food niche.

When Luka Omejec founded TIS Group in 1989, he saw an opportunity in software for the financial industry. This fundamental principle remains true at TIS today, writes Matilda Bačelić in the new issue of Lider. While the Group brings together five subsidiary companies in Croatia and abroad and employs around 120 specialists, its clients are all leading banks in Croatia, and it is consistently among the top ten largest software exporters.

Vanja Figenwald, on the other hand, brings a story in the new issue of Lider about the continuation of the (bureaucratic) conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On the first day of 2016, Russia decided to react to Ukraine’s decision to suspend payments on external debt after reaching an agreement with the IMF on restructuring a $18 billion debt with creditors, excluding Russia, to whom it needed to pay $3 billion. There is nothing to be done; when the weapons fall silent, the ‘punching’ begins with economic measures and debts.