HDZ shows nervousness by confuting early elections

The ruling ˝team˝ has problems with remaining convincing and it seems that nothing but fear of early elections can jolt them.

All the HDZ representatives are still in the parliament and  there are no signs that anyone from the coalition plans any cancellations, so why does the mentioning of early elections cause nervousness? In two days, Prime Minister denied the possibility of early elections twice. She first expressed this attitude  in Zagreb, and then again during the visit to Vatican where she felt empowered, as she herself noted, by visiting the Pope. Opposition to early elections was even voiced by one Spaniard, Secretary General of the European People's Party, who after talks with HDZ leadership said that it would not be wise for Croatia's opposition parties to seek early elections as the People's Party representatives are in European institutions and thus will be there in the next five years.

It is clear that such involvement of the 'European Official', as he was immediately labeled by the opposition leaders, did not sound 'smart' because Croatian public is generally not gracious to such  alliances ever since the time when German Chancellor publicly opted for the SDP party. From the way that Kosor's colleague from the Association of European citizens' party presented his views, it sounded as if Croatia could not join the EU unless HDZ remained in power after the next elections, and he, I believe, did not mean so.

Paradoxical anxiety

HDZ's nervousness is paradoxical because this is the only party that  holds keys to the elections. There are no visible cracks within the ruling coalition, especially after the way the recent tractor protest was resolved. If something changed in this regard or if, for example, representatives who are currently 'on ice' because of the closeness with Sanader remain outside of HDZ's electoral apparatus, it is assumed that the ruling party would activate the backup votes relatively easy, and this might interpret Seks' recent weekend talks with leaders of Glavas' HDSSB in Osijek. So the majority is still strong, there are backup options that can be used before resorting to early elections, but the HDZ party is still extremely sensitive at the mere mention of these words lately.
Why?
Firstly, opposition parties have also raised the level of caution in following events within the ruling coalition, and began to seriously prepare for the eventual take-over. It is notable, for example, that they are prepared to support cuts in state spending since, in the event of victory, they would have to introduce these themselves. Opposition politicians do not limit themselves to only criticizing the ruling party, but are increasingly introducing elements of their own policies. Joint meetings outside of Zagreb, in the famous 'Kukuriku' restaurant and similar environments, are also in the function of strengthening the message that the HDZ-led coalition has an alternative.

Meanwhile, leading party wants to create the impression that everything is under control and that they are able to end the current economic paralysis. The fact is that the previous economic policies have enabled regular payment of public sector salaries and pensions, but another fact is that these policies are not sustainable in the long run or sufficient in preventing a further rise in unemployment. In the meantime, with the help of three banks, the Government has developed a credit-guarantee assistance package to bolster the economy. This package predicts to see the capillary effect in the budget as well as growth of smaller partner companies. This process, however, will take several months before it sees any profit. In the meantime, the partial abolition of crisis tax will enter into force and combined with the start of the tourist season, create a stronger background for budget cuts within the certain population groups.

First, the state will give a little, and then it will take some

First, the state would give little to make it easier to confiscate some later on. However, none of the plans are articulated in clear and logical arguments, but the emphasis is instead placed on optimistic and extremely superficial announcements that create the misleading impression that there is a reason for optimism. But none of what the government already announced, including the abolition of crisis tax and increased public sector investment, encountered the 'predicted' response from the public. The opposition recognized the plan to invest into public companies (14.6 billion kuna) as the Government's bluff and the government hasn't given them any counter-arguments yet. How will mismanaged public companies, that were until recently perceived as an arena of corruption and irrational spending, fuel the development?

Besides having problems in finding solutions and determination, the ruling team has a problem with remaining convincing. Hence probably the signs of nervousness since rational reasons to fear early elections cannot be identified in neither the parliamentary majority or in the peculiarly non-aggressive opposition.