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O izdanju:
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CONTENT
Introductory epistle
5 EU Dreams and EU Nightmares
Fortnightly news
6 The Economy
7 Of General Interest
Fortnightly feature
8 We’ve Got a Date: EU Berth on 1st July 2013
Highlights
12 The Spice Affair Goes to Court
13 VIPnet Buys B.net: A True Merger
Feature interview
14 Senator Sessions & Maurice McTigue: Straight to the Point
Financial
18 EU Funding: The Big Picture
Real estate
22 Croatia’s EU Accession: A Cause for Cautious Optimism
Cultur
24 Istros Books: Popularising the Regional Written Word
Entertainment
28 Bibliothriller
Lifestyle
28 Off the Rails: Taking the Tram in Zagreb
Human interest
30 New Developments in the Search for Antonija Bilić, Missing Teen
To do list
31 Summer Is Officially Here
Introductory epistle
What a fortnight. Just as we thought that after the Mladić arrest and the Pope’s visit we
would enter a quieter period and thus be able to dedicate more time and space to leisure and
all things related, there it goes again. We have finally got a date for EU accession, and it looks
as though this is it – a dream come true. If it hadn’t been for those fascist orgies (yes, let us
call what happened in Split fascist orgies); if it hadn’t been for Ivo Sanader, who, in a curious
turn of events, has changed his mind and now wishes to be extradited to Croatia – if I had to
speculate, I would say that in Austria he would get a fair trial, meaning at least 20 years in
prison; whilst in Croatia he has much stronger chips to bargain with, especially given that parliamentary elections are just round the corner,
which is to say that nobody will be inclined to make waves; if it hadn’t been for the most recent development in the Spice and INA-MOL
(both of which, naturally, feature Sanader in a leading role) related affairs, the latter of which
we will have to cover in the next issue thanks to the ever rigid printer’s deadline; if it hadn’t
been for the most massive search-and-rescue mission and criminal investigation in Croatia’s modern history…
The reader gets the idea.
However one looks at it, things are picking up. The tourist season is off to a good start – so I hear – and I truly cannot complain about the
last weekend which I spent in Opatija attending the International Leaders’ Summit jointly
organised by The Adriatic Institute for Public
Policy and the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformers. In a professional capacity, true, which means that I had to work (and
behave), but is it not our duty to combine business with pleasure and make the most of it? I
finally got the opportunity to interview Maurice McTigue, a true reformer whom I’ve admired for quite some time, and also to marvel
at the extraordinary spectacle of a political alliance of European conservatives speak about
nothing but reform. “To conserve” and “to reform” would by any moderately tuned linguistic mind be immediately placed on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but such are the
realities of this post-cold-war era that the progressives are calling themselves conservatives
and the status-quoers are calling themselves liberals. I, personally, am not confused, as it
is not difficult to understand the need of those involved in politics to label themselves in some
way or other.
The important thing is that I spent a weekend with people who mean well, who have faith
in the future, and who dedicate their time to looking for practical solutions to practical
problems. In other words, though generally regarded as Eurosceptics, they hold no grudge
against the EU as an idea – not even as a kind of mega-state – but against the EU as a Gargantuan, fabulously expensive bureaucratic
machinery run by non-elected professional administrators. And their criticism rubbed off on
me, no necessarily because we share the same concerns, but because an image formed itself
in my mind, a vision of Croatia as a EU member state where, in terms of new opportunities for us Croats, nothing had really changed
for the better – the only difference being that we’ve been given the right to populate the endless corridors of Brussels and Strasbourg with
more clerks, secretaries, translators, lawyers, political consultants and MEP-s – the last being a particularly coveted appointment reserved for the apt, the adept and the inept no
one back home cares about. Needless to say, I recoiled in horror, and almost became a dedicated Eurosceptic myself.
Almost, for we all understand that there is no alternative to the EU. Fortunately, the latest
public opinion poll, conducted for RTL television, says that 51% of the population are in favour of Croatia joining the EU, 43% against,
and 8% undecided. This is a marked improvement since a month ago, and in light of the fact that the general tendencies are positive,
the unavoidable referendum will pass. Croatia will join the EU in roughly two years – and may God have mercy on us all. Not because
we’ve become a member state, but because we haven’t implemented the necessary reforms.
In or out, more struggle lies ahead.
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O časopisu:
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Croatia: a Fortnight in Review (CR) is the first publication of its kind in Croatia: a twice monthly national English language newspaper for all those seeking high-level analysis of contemporary business, legal, political and cultural affairs and events in Croatia. The editorial office is well-rounded and, of course, international, and draws on the extensive experience of a composite of full-time professionals and outsourced experts.
News in all its insightful and banal forms is everywhere nowadays, but no newspaper should be solely about the news; the task of every self-respecting broadsheet is to provide and create meaningful context. This, simply, is our mission.
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