It does not matter whether the conservative or social democratic presidential candidate wins the election. The course of both is clear: anti-European.
The current Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, has already declared himself the winner of the elections, but everything is still unclear. Photo: Darko Vojinovic/AP
It has not yet been decided who will govern Croatia in the future. Although the previous Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, of the conservative HDZ party, retained his position with around 60 of the 151 seats in the Taste parliament, his social democratic rival Zoran Milanovic, with his 42 seats, still believes he has a chance this time through coalitions to get the smaller parties to obtain a majority for a change of government.
And that is not entirely impossible. The SDP wants to drag the nationalist Homeland Movement (DP), the ultra-conservative Most and the left-wing green party Mozemo ( Podemos ) into its own camp, along with a conglomerate of minorities and small parties. Government is still possible. In recent months, Zoran Milanović has tried to ingratiate himself with the right-wing nationalist camp through his sympathies for Putin and Orban. He even surpassed Plenkovic on the right with his policy in Bosnia and is a strong advocate of further territorial division of the neighboring country, in line with the interests of the far right.
As head of a government that supports Ukraine, Plenković can present himself as pro-Western, even though his party is seen as a corrupt system and its governing style is becoming increasingly autocratic. Mockers from neighboring Slovenia even talk about a balkanization of Croatia.
For decades it has been part of the self-image of the “citizens” of Zagreb to define Croatia as part of Central Europe. And not as part of the Balkans. This was “finally” behind us in 2013, when we joined the EU.
If you look at the real scenario in view of this beautiful image of the educated middle class, you see that Plenković and Milanović have not proven to be cultured opponents. The citizens of Zagreb can at least take solace in the fact that the left-wing green party “Možemo” (We can, we can) is in the lead in their city.