The political support of Most and the Patriotic Coalition, as well as the ability to prepare and implement government measures within the existing political situation, is much more important than the professional profile of the appointee.
As we await the proposal for the composition of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the specific program of measures that the appointee Tihomir Orešković will present to the Parliament, politicians and the public are wondering whether a successful business manager with experience managing an international corporation can also be a successful prime minister.
In recent days, the media have compared the Croatian case with European examples where experts were chosen as prime ministers. Many of them did not achieve the successes that were initially expected of them, which has caused skepticism towards the appointee among parts of the Croatian public. However, most business people trust the appointee and believe that the time has finally come for a change in the usual practice of having professional and experienced politicians govern the country, given that the key challenges for the further development of Croatia are related to the economy. In this sense, here is a positive example where a top manager was an excellent choice for prime minister, especially in areas that were not directly related to the economy.
The Case of Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is best known to the general public for losing to Barack Obama as the Republican candidate for President of the United States in 2012. However, in 2002 he became the governor of Massachusetts (comparable to the position of prime minister), after a long and exceptionally successful career in the consulting industry that began in 1970 after completing his studies in law and business economics at Stanford and BYU. He came to the governorship from the position of CEO of Bain, one of the most successful consulting firms in the world.
When Mitt Romney, as a political outsider, won the election and took office as governor, Massachusetts (with 6.4 million residents and a GDP of $317 billion) was facing similar problems to those Croatia faces today: budget deficit, low employment, high spending with low efficiency of public administration, and an unsustainable healthcare system. At the beginning of his term, Romney refused to accept the usual annual gubernatorial salary of $135,000 and immediately began addressing the issues.
The key measure to reduce the deficit was the implementation of the newly introduced capital gains tax, which was extremely successful. In combination with measures to optimize public administration spending, reducing state subsidies, and increasing fees for public administration services, Romney managed to bring the state budget to a surplus of $600 million by the end of his term. He improved the efficiency of public administration through reorganization, simplification of the regulatory framework, enhancement of the performance measurement system for public officials, and the implementation of many innovative measures in public administration.
