Never mind the politics… it’s all personality… January 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in European Politics, The Left.trackback
An odd report in the Irish Times on the election of the new president of Croatia Ivo Josipovic. Odd – you ask? Well yeah. Consider the article in full…
CROATIA’S NEW president, Ivo Josipovic, has pledged to crack down on crime and corruption and lead his country into the European Union, after securing an easy election win over scandal-plagued Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic.
A law professor and classical music composer, Mr Josipovic compared his triumph to a “victorious symphony” after taking 60.3 per cent of votes against 39.3 per cent for Mr Bandic.
“I want a European Croatia, a Croatia that will be one of the shining stars in the European sky,” Mr Josipovic told supporters, insisting that Croatia would flourish “not only through EU membership but by values that we stand for — democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law, minority rights (and) religious freedom”.
Mr Josipovic (52) also restated his determination to crack down on the graft and mafia groups that plague Croatia, and which are perhaps the greatest obstacle to its EU accession.
Mr Bandic – although he has never been charged with any wrongdoing – suffered at the polls due to persistent media reports linking him to cronyism and shady dealings in the Zagreb administration.
“I want an uncompromising fight against corruption and organised crime . . . a better Croatia with more justice . . . a country where work is paid for and crime is punished,” Mr Josipovic said.
Croatian media broadly welcomed the election of Mr Josipovic, who was seen as a solid but unspectacular candidate in contrast to the maverick Mr Bandic. At a time when stability is needed as the country bids to join the EU by the end of 2012, the combination of Mr Josipovic and prime minister Jadranka Kosor has given the country “a sort of dream team”, according to Zeljko Trkanjec, an editor at the influential Jutarnji List newspaper.
“They could function great together and that will help Croatia become a country with a real rule of law, which is the basic precondition for EU membership,” he said.
Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos welcomed the election of “a very pro-European personality” and said “the Spanish EU presidency will do everything it can to be able to conclude negotiations with Croatia as soon as possible”.
Now, reading that is there anyone who could determine the party or ideological identification of either candidate? Indeed any sense at all bar the mention of a pro-EU stance that there’s anything that differentiates the two candidates?
As it happens both Josipovic and Bandic were members of the same party, the SDP, with Bandic being expelled as recently as November when he announced he was standing in the Presidential Election. He subsequently stood as an independent and according to some reports pitched towards the populist right in order to garner support. Bandic is quite a character, Josipovic, perhaps less so, though his political travels are no less interesting – and it’ll certainly be interesting to see how his Nova Pravednost campaign works out.
But of all this not a hint. Sure why would we care?
Incidentally, note the following… ‘Croatian media broadly welcomed the election of Mr Josipovic…’ Well… that’s okay then…
The problem with Milan Bandic is not only that he’s ‘scandal-plagued’, but that he is downright corrupt. Next to him, Peter Robinson’s improprieties, if they turn out to be true, seem like child play. He regularly awarded tenders (at inflated prices) to companies owned by his relatives and then claimed it was all a coincidence. Josipovic is at least not corrupt, but is also not exciting. I myself voted for Vesna Pusic.
Which is entirely fine. I’m no cheerleader for Bandic one way or another. My concern is that there isn’t a hint, a sniff, a smidgen of information about what these people represent bar Josipovic’s pro-EU stance. Was Bandic anti-EU? Are we told? Do we know?
oi,
No, Bandić was pro-EU, but under some rules. But both candidates offered same things, and people wasnt voting for program, then for man, do you want to be represented in world by Ivo or Milan? People understood this president roll is minor, and president has no power in inner politics and it is only a show case for World. And by that i think people rather choosed Ivo Josipović, at least he knows English
President needs help from Government to do changes, but when Government is hard-cored corrupted, then there is no help.