We were in 74th place, and we remain in 74th place. This would be the briefest news about Croatia’s position in the Global Competitiveness Report 2017 – 2018 published by the Croatian National Competitiveness Council as a partner of the World Economic Forum.
If only we hadn’t remained in the same place! If Croatia had dropped a place, it would have provoked some reaction in the media and among economists. Perhaps an opposition politician would have said a word or two. Or if we had moved up a few places on the list. The media wouldn’t find that particularly interesting, economists would relativize the results, and perhaps some ruling politician would try, even if they themselves didn’t believe it, to use a better position on the list to awaken optimism and motivation.
Stagnation to Stabilization
It has become normal that we are stuck with the reform of the state apparatus. A few ambitious journalists might still take the trouble to calculate how many new state secretaries and similar officials Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has managed to employ in a year. But that will hardly provoke any reaction. The inflation of state officials has become a normal occurrence. Who will get excited about a battle that has already been lost?
This is pure stagnation. Or, as proponents of the belief in the omnipotence of stabilization and stability would say: ‘Here is proof that we have stabilized.’ The fact that Croatia has not moved a single place on the competitiveness list is yet another proof supporting the thesis that we have collectively – gotten stuck. If I am not mistaken, Velimir Šonje from Arhivanalitika presented this thesis a year or two ago at a conference. The thesis could be supplemented in 2017 to read: ‘We are stuck and we have come to terms with the fact that we are stuck.’
Stuckness has become our new normal. No one is excited anymore that Croatia is positioned on the aforementioned global competitiveness list between Armenia and Albania. Several governments have promised that improving results will be their priority. As if all governments are trying, and the result – firmly at 74th place (Czech Republic 31st, Poland 39th, Bulgaria 49th). Reaction? Well, folks, we tried, and here, it’s not working! When we make a move, our competitors shamelessly, deliberately, and out of spite at the same time do more and better. Who cares about that ranking! The rules are set up incorrectly…
We are stuck in growth rates as well. And we have come to terms with the fact that there is no chance that instead of three percent, GDP will grow four or five percent. We do not believe that anything can be done about it. We have reconciled ourselves to the fact that Romania has surpassed us in GDP per capita, so we are now second to last in the EU. Almost nothing is critically re-examined anymore. So when unionists jump up saying that wages in the country are too low because we are, according to that criterion, ‘at the bottom of Europe’, i.e., fifth from the back, the public nods. And if we are second from the back in GDP, then the fact that we are fifth from the back in wages, unfortunately, means that our wages, considering the overall results, are too high.
Record Holder with 650 Signature Verifications
We are stuck in the implementation of reforms. It has become normal for ministers, like Health Minister Kujundžić, to release balloons with proposals (higher taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, and mobile phone use). So when the balloon gets stuck between media reactions and the Taxpayers’ Association, it is nonchalantly accepted that the idea is unfeasible. Similar to trial balloons about property tax.
It has become normal that we are stuck with the reform of the state apparatus. A few ambitious journalists might still take the trouble to calculate how many new state secretaries and similar officials Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has managed to employ in a year. But that will hardly provoke any reaction. The inflation of state officials has become a normal occurrence. Who will get excited about a battle that has already been lost?
We are stuck and have come to terms with the fact that we are stuck. Stuckness has become our new normal. No one is excited anymore that Croatia is positioned on the global competitiveness list between Armenia and Albania.
We have reconciled ourselves that even the accepted laws will not change anything fundamentally. The Public Procurement Act, widely announced as a Copernican turn, has actually not changed anything fundamentally. The presidents of management and supervisory boards are stuck between regulations that require them to verify with a notary each time anew, when a public tender is concerned, that they have not been penalized. It seems that the record holder is the president of the domestic supervisory board with about 650 individual verifications. At least two notaries can go skiing every year just based on reconciling with stupid legal provisions.
In fact, we are stuck when it comes to demographic policy as well. No serious person expects that there will be a more meaningful attempt to stop the export of young, educated labor. Opportunistically, we hope that their remittances from abroad will continue to grow.
Exporters are also stuck. True, they achieve solid results despite everything, but, here, even at this week’s round table at the Economic Institute, Zagreb, where the sources of export growth were analyzed very qualitatively, it could be concluded that after years of struggle, it is resignedly accepted that the exchange rate policy will not change. We are really stuck.
