Andrej Plenković, President of HDZ: The Problem Is Not in the Nation’s Mentality, but in Leadership

It was not easy to arrange a time for an interview with the new president of HDZ, Andrej Plenković. The campaign is in full swing, there is no rest, every day is important, as is every vote. That is why he is not idle; every day he is on the other side of Croatia, seeking voter support for his program of a more modern HDZ. However, there are many topics and questions that seek answers, and therefore Lider has scratched beneath the surface and posed some questions that are not found in other media.

• In just one month since your arrival at the helm of HDZ, the party’s rating is rising. Are you satisfied with this ‘turnaround’? – Through credible actions, we are restoring the trust of Croatian voters, and the significant advantage of SDP has melted away after the dissolution of the Croatian Parliament. I believe that Croatian voters recognize the quality of our program and the excellence of the people on our electoral list. We will continue this trend and gain their majority trust in the elections.

• You mentioned that the top positions on HDZ’s lists will be filled by faces you want to see in your government. From what we see, your government, if you win power, will have quite a few ministers who were part of Tim’s team. – It is still early to talk about that. Voters can see from the composition of the lists that HDZ has many quality candidates for several governments, unlike SDP, which is going with the same composition that led Croatia for four years. We will choose the most qualified and expert individuals who will be able to implement HDZ’s program policy in various sectors.

• It is often said that we need to ‘change the mentality’. So far, no one has succeeded in this. Do you know how to do it? – The problem is not in the mentality, but in the leadership that must have a clear vision, plan, and goals, as well as the knowledge and experience for implementation. Croatia has smart and talented people, hardworking and persistent, as our athletes show, but also everything we have achieved when we were organized together, from independence to membership in the EU and NATO. I believe that the team we have gathered is strong enough to make a developmental leap, for which Croatia has all the prerequisites, from natural resources to people and knowledge.

Authors: Miodrag Šajatović and Ksenija Puškarić

You can read the full interview in the new issue of Lider.