We Need a New Business Model with Economy and Growth in Focus

The government must openly state what can be implemented now, what can be done by the end of the term, and what will require more time. The harsh truth is that growth will not happen in 2016 or 2017; we will be happy if it occurs by 2020.

The other day at the excellent Zagreb Dox, I watched the outstanding documentary ‘What We Are Closer To’ by director Karen Guthrie. The documentary provides insight into a very personal story about unspoken things in a Scottish family over decades. I could not help but recognize myself, and I could not help but identify parts of that personal family story, even comparing it to our society. What have we not spoken about in Croatian society that we should have? Or better yet, how many years have we been living in a lie?

In every respect, we are regressing.

You have probably been surprised, as I have, at how little it takes for us as a society to take twenty steps backward, and you have likely been shocked, as I have, by the amount of anger, hatred, and completely inappropriate discourse that permeates the Croatian media space.
I must honestly admit that I do not understand this need for constant responding to each other and competing in insults. If only we had Gore Vidal or William F. Buckley, at least the debate would be on a different intellectual level compared to what we are witnessing.
Find the strength to discover your inner motivation to move forward, and for that reason, and nothing else, we must understand that the responsibility for spoken words becomes more important than ever before.
Why now? Because as a society, we are regressing in every respect, and there are no serious reasons for it. Realistically, we may have our last chance for a positive leap and to catch up with developed Europe. Now or never. This is not the moment when we should be looking at whether we are in the executive power or not, whether the ruling option is conservative or liberal. There is a moment that is opening up to us right now, and probably for the last time for the next several decades. Why do I consider this moment important or even crucial? Because with our entry into the European Union and the beginning of the recovery of Western markets, our highly dependent economy on experiencing the second has received a new chance. That door or that new leap opens only once, and if we do not take advantage of it, that moment will pass, and a new opportunity will take a long time to wait for.
If we happen to face a new global recession, then as a society we will not have a new chance for a long time. Therefore, and also due to the starting level which is realistically poor, we must urgently move forward.

The government must be honest.

Let us stop throwing around sentences about reforms, and I agree that the current government does not have a hundred days at its disposal. The government must be honest and tell citizens openly what can be implemented now, what can be done by the end of the term, or, which is even more brutal, what measures will realistically not be possible to implement in this term and will require more time (two or more terms).
Perhaps this would be a healthy path to gain trust in winning a second term, as since the 2000s, no left coalition has retained the mandate won, and likewise, no right option has entered the second term with a secure majority.
Tell Croatia the truth; the growth you promise will not happen in 2016 or 2017; we will be happy if it occurs by 2020, and that is the harsh truth. Realistically, we have exhausted the existing business model, which needs to be broken. We must start establishing a new, fairer one based on new values. Economy and growth must be in focus, and this must be clear to everyone.

Reassess investments!

I also appeal to journalists to reassess economic topics, especially foreign investments and their attraction using the mechanisms available, as well as the production of goods and services for export.
Let these become topics that will bore us from repetition, rather than the historical period from 1941 to 1990. Honestly, who cares about that when you cannot secure a future for the country and its citizens? Defend the homeland with prosperity, which always starts from the well-being of society.
Therefore, once again, let us briefly repeat only about the future without false promises because we do not lie to our own children, so we cannot lie to our own people.
Let us take the harder, yet correct path, tell the truth about where we are, but also about how long the road is to reach where we belong.