The Battle for Jakuševec: Helpless Tomašević Struggles in the Web of Private and HDZ Interests

The mayor of Zagreb and his party are currently experiencing the toughest days since coming to power; even tougher than when they initially faced Bandić’s management structure and an empty city and holding treasury. The explosion with the landslide at Jakuševac is more dangerous than the moment when Čistoća workers, under the auspices of the city opposition, began an illegal strike. This, the third crisis, is likely bringing to an end the already unrealistic aspiration of taking power in the parliamentary elections, and it could also call into question the previously more realistic ambitions of the Možemo! party to win significantly more parliamentary mandates than the current six.

Plenković will gladly help

Namely, although there are still more than six months until the parliamentary elections, Tomislav Tomašević made a key political mistake on Monday morning at Jakuševac. He stated that he cannot solve the problem without the help of the state, thus admitting inferiority in relation to his main political competitor. It does not matter that this is a fact, but not from Monday, rather long ago, from the moment Tomašević became a collateral victim of the change in EU policy. The shift occurred due to the new provision that sorting, composting, and processing of mixed waste must be in one place. At that time, the plan for European funding of only the Mixed Waste Processing Center, which would allow for the closure of Jakuševac in Tomašević’s (first) term, failed. In the meantime, new studies are being prepared, but the mayor should have initiated a conversation with the prime minister long before Monday – even before the first major landslide at Jakuševac on November 11. At that time, he could have been a somewhat equal partner, but now he is loser who will come to bow to the big boss.

Plenković, of course, did not miss the opportunity to give him a little lesson in politics and generously stated that the government, as it helps others, will gladly help the city of Zagreb.

And what will Tomašević ask from Plenković? First of all, help for closing Jakuševac. He will ask how much EU funding he can count on for the Waste Management Center with sorting and composting in Resnik. And he will plead that the planned CGO is not common for Zagreb and Zagreb County.

This last point is indeed a paradox. Land in Zagreb is multiple times more valuable than in the county. Zagreb is the most urbanized part of Croatia and is even twelve times denser than its county surroundings, which certainly has more unused corners suitable for waste management than what the state has outlined. They assure us that new technology does not create any unwanted effects, not even odors like that of Jakuševac. However, Marišćina above Rijeka and Kaštijun near Pula contradict this. Regardless, if there is no danger to ecology in Resnik, it would not be a problem to burn waste in the county. And the rent that would trickle down would certainly be welcome in Farkaševac, Žumberak, or Preseka (the three least developed municipalities in the county that receive the most money from fiscal equalization per capita).

Even this detail shows the absurdity of the territorial organization according to which Zagreb is practically surrounded by the county, which does not even have its own hospital, and its seat is outside its territory – in Zagreb. If that area had a common representative body, the agreement on waste disposal would probably be simpler. But that is just a separate story.

Excellent Private Business

Let’s return to waste, which is actually an excellent private business in Zagreb. Even Jakuševac is managed by entrepreneurs to whom the City entrusted the management of this landfill. It is a consortium that includes HIS Slavko Hrženjak, Tigra Milana Penave (the godfather of the late Bandić), Eko-Flor, which operates within the C.I.O.S. group Petra Pripuza, and C.I.A.K. owned by the Leko family. These companies managed Jakuševac even during Bandić’s time, and Tomašević had no choice but to allow them to continue their work with a new contract. The city company Čistoća is merely a channel from households to Jakuševac, and the City not only lacks the capacity to take over the landfill but also lacks the capacity for oversight. So Tomašević now futilely calls for the State Inspectorate instead of having trained city inspectors over the past two and a half years to check daily whether the Jakuševac consortium meets all contractual terms.

Proponents of the deep state thesis would certainly say that it (read: HDZ and SDP) actually pushed Tomašević into the Mayor’s office because no one wanted to deal with the mess left behind by Bandić and the city brought to bankruptcy. The politically inexperienced mayor thus fell into a web of private and party interests, primarily HDZ’s. This is evident in the example of Jakuševac, but also in the circus with Dinamo and the new stadium.

Ideal Location for Waste

Tomašević has been dealing with Jakuševac since 2017, when he climbed on it and stated:

– On this hill begins the battle for Zagreb.

The scenery resembled one of the most famous war photographs, ‘Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima 1945,’ taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Bloody battles continued for more than a month after the flag was raised. The conquest of Iwo Jima cost the Americans nearly 7,000 dead and 17,000 wounded. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers, only a thousand surrendered, some even years after the war ended. The demolition of Jakuševac has lasted longer than the months-long conquest of Iwo Jima. And there is another connection: the name of the uninhabited island belonging to Tokyo (although it is 1,200 kilometers away) means – ‘sulfur island’ – due to the kind of wells where sulfur-rich water bubbles. What a Resnik, it is the ideal place for a new Jakuševac.