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September 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Croatia the Adriatic tiger?
World Cup final this summer will reinvigorate her country of 4.2m people.
“We need to spur that optimism in other areas,” she told bne IntelliNews in an exclusive interview in the presidential offices in Zagreb. “I’m hoping that this success will provide for similar kinds of results that — for instance — Ireland had when the World Cup in Italy in 1990 gave a boost to the rise of the Celtic tiger.”
She distanced herself from the drumbeat of na- tionalism and xenophobia elsewhere in Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans, and called for a reassertion of “European values”, drawing on the experience of Croatia’s 1991-95 war of independence.
“Croatia is the latest member state of the EU, and one of the countries that best remembers why the European project began to begin with,” said Grabar-Kitarovic. “We remember the times of war that unfortunately for us were quite recent, we re- member the times of division in Europe, of barbed wire. For quite a long time before the migration crisis, I had been warning about the erosion of values, and I had noticed that societies were clos- ing inwards.”
Asked whether these “European values” were the sort of exclusivist “Christian values” espoused
by leaders like Viktor Orban, prime minister of neighbouring Hungary, the Croatian president said that she would not “comment on, interpret what one of my colleagues has said,” but added: “I don’t see a problem in upholding Christian values, because I think they’re in conformity with Muslim, or any other religious values — I’m talk- ing about the mainstream.”
Speaking at a modest circular table in a huge reception room carpeted with plush rugs in the Communist-era Pantovcak complex, she added: “For us the European project is still about values,
of course it’s about the common market and eco- nomic opportunities, and the four freedoms. But it’s also about human rights, it’s about civil rights, about rights of the individual and about creating the most prosperous and the freest space in the world — that offers all of these opportunities to all people and all countries equally.”
Cheering for Croatia
Grabar-Kitarovic’s international profile was raised by her appearances at the World Cup, when she regularly donned the national team’s shirt and where possible eschewed VVIP areas and official flights in favour of sitting with fans. Pictures of her wearing the national strip and surrounded
by fellow Croatia fans flying coach on the way to Moscow went viral as a shocking show of humility and simple fun that is so unusual for the leader of a former socialist bloc country.
Her involvement in the World Cup also appears to have buoyed her domestic popularity considerably ahead of presidential elections due by the end of next year, in which she is widely expected to run. Polls give her a popularity rating of 67%, making her by a large margin the country’s most popu- lar politician. While some on the left in Croatia’s polarised political landscape have accused her of behaving improperly and shamelessly using the World Cup for self-promotion, overall, Croats are satisfied with international reactions to her sum- mer in the spotlight, says Davor Gjenero, a politi- cal commentator.
Grabar-Kitarovic is not universally popular in Croatia, however, and critics say that her whole- some international image masks a willingness
to cosy up to the far right in Croatia for political reasons. For example, Velimir Bujanec, a talk show host who has been pictured parading Nazi memorabilia, was a VIP guest at her inauguration, while the president has said that controversial far-right singer Thompson — whose appearance at the World Cup celebrations in Zagreb caused controversy — is a favourite of hers.
On the other hand, some conservatives see her