Croatia: the difficult compromise government

On 22 January 2016, the Croatian parliament passed a vote of confidence in the government led by the independent technocrat Tihomir Oreskovic. His cabinet wass formed by the right-wing Patriotic Coalition centred around the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Tomislav Karamarko and the Most platform which represents liberal economic views and which was led by Bozo Petrov. The new government promised economic reforms, a return to an active historical policy and coming to terms with the Communist period, and, as regards foreign policy, strengthening the pro-Atlantic vector and co-operation with Central European countries.

However, the new government may be unstable, given the different priorities each coalition partner had and the ambitions of the leaders of the two groupings. HDZ focused above all on historical policy and wanted to control the law enforcement agencies. It was also reluctant to conduct radical public sector and economic reforms; and these were the main proposal on Most’s agenda. Furthermore, the prime minister himself did not have a sufficient political base, and Karamarko made attempts to weaken the position of him and to marginalise its coalition partner.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Croatian parliamentary election, 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/croatian-parliamentary-election-2015/

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