The coup was prevented and thwarted and the situation is stable, claims HDZ's strongest man, Vladimir ล eks, after that party deleted former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader from its membership on Monday.
Only six months ago, Sanader was "the god and the club" in Croatia; then it occurred to him to resign from the post of prime minister, without explaining his motives to anyone. Quite the contrary: he rudely submitted his resignation - one sentence - to the representatives in the Croatian Parliament, and left without saying a word to those who elected him as prime minister.
This Sunday, on January 3, at exactly noon, he called some of his devotees (it turned out that some of them are no longer) to the party's headquarters in Zagreb, as well as journalists. There he announced that he is ready to return to politics, because HDZ "is not a party of 12 percent" as won by HDZ candidate Andrija Hebrang in the first round of presidential elections on December 27. Although it was he who launched Hebrang as a candidate, he accused Jadranka Kosor - whom he also left as his successor in the party and in the position of prime minister - for the drop in HDZ's rating; he did not make a statement about the state on that occasion. Along the way, half a year late, he explained why he gave himself "a little wind" (the name of the yacht on which he sailed while the country was still reeling from his resignation) after leaving the prime minister's chair. Allegedly, he did not want to trade with Croatian territory, that is, to finally agree something with the Slovenians about the Gulf of Piran; about why, for example, he sold the Croatian INA and a few other things, not a word.
Just as he brazenly and completely irresponsibly left the helm of the state, he also tried to return to the head of the HDZ, in which he was left with the position of honorary president, to politics and to the parliamentary benches. In recent months, they say, he has already tried to meddle in politics by influencing people loyal to him, who did not accept Jadranka Kosor "seriously" in the position of prime minister. As the public speculates, he is trying to return to the Parliament because of the huge affairs in which his name is mentioned, especially the last one regarding Hypo Alpe Adria Bank; although the dubious affairs surrounding that bank and Sanader's alleged commission to favor its business (a bribe of 800 euros is mentioned) have long been known to the Croatian public (ever since Ivica ฤikiฤ's article in the Feral Tribune in 2005), the situation has now changed, as the investigation is ongoing outside the Croatian borders, and domestic investigative bodies will not be able to behave like ostriches, as if nothing concerns them. After all, Croatia is a candidate for membership in the European Union.
That is probably where Sanader's idea to re-enroll as parliamentarians - whether he will do it, we have to wait until January 15, when he can activate his parliamentary mandate - and get immunity from criminal prosecution, at least for a while, at least until the next parliamentary elections and the new convenes the parliament.
The fact is that already on Sunday afternoon, right after Sanader's press conference, everyone was on the back foot: opposition leaders, part of the top of the HDZ, President Stjepan Mesiฤ. Jadranka Kosor did not plead that afternoon, she had better things to do, before she said anything she met with Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajiฤ and Minister of Interior Tomislav Karamarka. On Monday, she won the party clash, all the party's strong people stood by her, a few of those who came "to Sanader's feet" the day before, even without knowing the reason for the invitation, claimed that they were manipulated, only among the strong players is with Sanader remained the Speaker of the Parliament, Luka Bebiฤ. Mesiฤ, on the other hand, called him out, stating that because of the coup attempt, he should also "fall" along with Sanader, that is, resign from the position of Speaker of the Parliament, to which Bebiฤ snapped that he was not the first Speaker of the Parliament to express his party opinion, because this was already done by Mesiฤ himself in 1994, when, as also the President of the Parliament, he parted ways with Franjo Tuฤman.
Just as Sanader's departure from the office of prime minister is unclear, so is his coup attempt a few days ago: the man is not stupid, so one must be surprised by the amount of his arrogance when, after what he did six months ago, for which he was called a rat (pantagan) who escapes from the Croatian ship that is slowly sinking, tries to return the same without any real explanation, with transparent criticisms of her successor Jadranka Kosor and offering herself as the only savior of the HDZ and the state.
So far, as Shaks said, the coup has been removed and the situation is stable. We will see if it will remain so even if Sanader decides to return to the Parliament, where the ruling coalition has a slim majority, and the characters of many people's deputies should not be overestimated.
RSV
Ivo Sanader was born on June 8, 1953 in Split, where he graduated
elementary school and high school.
He completed studies in literature, comparative literature and romance
at the Faculty of Philosophy in Innsbruck, where he received his doctorate in 1982.
In Tyrol, Austria, in 1990, he founded the Croatian Democratic Party
community, which he became the head of after the death of party leader Franje
Tudjman.
He was first elected as a deputy of that party in the Croatian Parliament in 1992.
year. In August of the same year, he became the Minister of Science and Technology, a
already in January 1993, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
From 1995, he was the head of the cabinet of the then Croatian president
Franje Tuฤmana and the Chief Secretary of the Defense and National Security Council.
He experienced a political rise after the death of HDZ leader Franjo Tuฤman in 1999.
year. In April 2000, Sanader was elected as the new leader
party, which was also confirmed in the party elections, two years later.
He transformed and modernized the HDZ and transformed it into a "democratic European."
"conservative party".
In the parliamentary elections, in January 2000, he was re-elected
representative in the Croatian Parliament. In that mandate, he also performed his duties
vice president of the Foreign Policy Committee.
He was elected prime minister of Croatia twice - the first time on December 23, 2003.
year, and the second time, on January 12, 2008.
He published two books "Pink is also black" and "Perfume Phenomenon", au
in collaboration with Anto Stamaฤ, he compiled an anthology of Croatian war lyrics,
which has been translated into a dozen languages.
He wrote several scientific and professional texts in the field of history
literature, politics and diplomacy. He is a member of the Society of Croatians
writers and the Croatian PEN Center.
