Thursday

1st Jun 2023

Croatian politicians chase coveted EP seats

  • Croatia joined the EU in July and promptly fell foul of EU budget rules (Photo: JasonParis)

With a monthly salary of €6,700 plus daily expenses, most Croatian citizens perceive employment as a Member of the European Parliament as one of the best paid, most coveted and most comfortable positions on offer in government service.

That is partly why there were 28 lists with 336 candidates in April 2013 when Croatians chose their MEPs for the first time.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Neven Mimica - set to run for a seat in the EP (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

There is likely to be even more candidates in this spring's European election.

After all the country has been engulfed by economic, social and political crisis. Poverty and hunger threaten as much as a third of the population and more people are emigrating than migrating to the country.

Statistics show that since the beginning of the year 476 people lose their job every day. The number of unemployed is 380,000 out of a population of 4.4 million and every post advertised by the Croatian Bureau of Employment is sought by 50 registered job seekers.

Meanwhile economists predict another year of crisis.

Croatia's entry to the EU limit budget deficits

As soon as Croatia entered the EU in July, it fell foul of EU budget rules, which require that budget deficits not be greater than 3 percent of GDP.

The European Commission recently opened a special procedure – known as the excessive deficit procedure – against the country.

The Institute of Public Finance expects the procedure to stay in place until 2017, with any serious measures to cut spending and implement structural reform only likely to take place after national elections in 2015.

Ahead of the country’s first elections to the European Parliament in 2013 – before it became a member state – the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), the main government coalition partner, made big pledges on the economy.

As there were no signs of these promises becoming a reality, dissatisfied citizens punished the SDP in the first EU vote.

This meant that its main rival, the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), sneaked ahead with 0.75 percent more of the votes.

And this was despite the HDZ being embroiled in a full-blown political scandal. The party is facing legal proceedings for putting €3.9 million from state-owned companies into a slush fund.

In addition HDZ's former president, and former Croatian prime minister, Ivo Sanader, was imprisoned for accepting a bribe of €10 million from the Austrian Hypo Bank. Sanader is now a suspect in several other cases involving allegations of abuse of power and corruption.

The HDZ representatives, who won 32.86 percent of the vote in the 2013 European Parliament election, remain potential candidates this year.

They are Andrej Plenkovic; Dubravka Suica, who with 111 appearances in plenary is the most active Croatian MEP; Ivana Maletic; Zdravka Busic and Davor Stier.

Upon election to the European Parliament, all of these politicians joined the centre-right European People's Party.

Eurosceptic no longer welcome

A sixth politician Ruza Tomasic – known for strongly nationalistic statements – is no longer welcome on the HDZ list this time round. Tomasic hails from the extreme right-wing Croatian Party of Rights, A Starcevic.

She joined the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists group in 2013.

It is her membership of that political faction in the EU parliament that ruffled feathers with the centre-right in the EU assembly - despite the fact that she received the most votes on the list.

In an interview published in Vecernji newspaper, Joseph Daul, president of the European People's Party, said that due to Tomasic's "eurosceptic attitude" she could not run alongside HDZ for the EU parliament.

But despite Daul's warning, HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko has not yet said whether Tomasic will be on their list for the EU Parliament.

He is plainly still waiting for a response from Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who could be the HDZ star in the May vote.

A former foreign minister, Grabar-Kitarovic is currently assistant secretary general for public diplomacy at Nato.

The list is also set to include Marijana Petir from the partnering Croatian Peasant Party (HSS).

Karamarko recently also asked for the support of the socially conservative Zeljka Markic, president of the civil initiative "In the Name of Family".

Markic is currently considered a rising political force in Croatia. She recently initiated a referendum on marriage which changed the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

New conservative political group confident of success

Markic has not, however, donated her political capital to the HDZ. Instead she has given it to the new conservative political group, Alliance for Croatia.

The Alliance is made up of eight parties, including Markic's former Croatian Growth party, Hrast. The others are Alliance for Changes, Croatian Peasant Party, Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja, Croatia Party of Rights, Croatian Dawn, Family Party and Vow for Croatia.

They see the European Parliament elections as an opportunity to demonstrate the new political balance of power and they intend to take a portion of right-wing voters.

Vladimir Sisljagic, the first coordinator of the Alliance, is bullish about the likelihood of electoral success in the upcoming European, and subsequent national elections.

Announcements this week

The major political parties plan to announce their European Parliament candidates this week.

The SDP – IDS (Istrian Democratic Center) – HNS (Croatian People’s Party) and the Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU) are expected to run on a common platform.

The head of the list is likely to be Neven Mimica, currently EU health commissioner and former Europe minister.

The list will include the current MEP Tonino Picula, former minister of external affairs, Jozo Rados (HNS) and Ivan Jakovicic (IDS). Milorad Pupovac from the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) may also come onboard.

The list will also hold one representative from the pensioners party (HSU), as well as current MEPs Sandra Petrovic Jakovina and Oleg Valjalo. Marino Baldini will not be running for European Parliament again.

Croatian voters will elect 11 MEPs to the 751-strong European Parliament on 25 May.

Croatia becomes 28th EU member state

Croatia became the 28th member of the EU at midnight on Sunday, less than 20 years after gaining independence from Yugoslavia.

Croatia's troubled bridge project

An new bridge linking south Croatia to its northern tip across the Adriatic Sea will have powerful historical and political resonance for the region.

New Green party shakes up Croatia's political landscape

Croatia's main centre-right party is set to win the EU elections as they capitalise on the current government's inability to deal with the economic crisis. But a new Green party is shaking up the political landscape.

MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024

"This will be the first time a member state that is under the Article 7 procedure will take over the rotating presidency of the council," French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the key lawmaker on Hungary, warned.

European Parliament scales back luxury MEP pension fund

The European Parliament's Bureau, a political body composed of the president and its vice-presidents, decided to slash payouts from the fund by 50 percent, freeze automatic indexations, and increase the pension age from 65 to 67.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. Europe's TV union wooing Lavrov for splashy interview
  2. ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall
  3. Adapting to Southern Europe's 'new normal' — from droughts to floods
  4. Want to stop forced migration from West Africa? Start by banning bottom trawling
  5. Germany unsure if Orbán fit to be 'EU president'
  6. EU Parliament chief given report on MEP abuse 30 weeks before sanction
  7. EU clashes over protection of workers exposed to asbestos
  8. EU to blacklist nine Russians over jailing of dissident

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us