Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ZAGREB2676
2003-12-23 13:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

NOW PRESENTING CROATIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT - SANADER

Tags:  PGOV HR 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 002676 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2013
TAGS: PGOV HR
SUBJECT: NOW PRESENTING CROATIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT - SANADER
CONFIRMED AS PM

Classified By: Poloff A.F.Godfrey for reasons 1.5 (b,d)

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 002676

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2013
TAGS: PGOV HR
SUBJECT: NOW PRESENTING CROATIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT - SANADER
CONFIRMED AS PM

Classified By: Poloff A.F.Godfrey for reasons 1.5 (b,d)

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Croatia's newly-constituted parliament confirmed Ivo
Sanader as Prime Minister On December 23. The parliament
also voted confidence in Sanader's ministerial appointments.
The new cabinet will have 15 members, including Sanader and
two deputy Prime Ministers, a sharp change from Racan's
cumbersome 24-member cabinet. Sanader's lineup shows he took
pains to avoid nominations with too much baggage from the
corrupt, nationalist Tudjman-era HDZ. But that means some of
the new ministers -- including those in key positions -- will
be outsiders, who may be slow to trust their staff and may
have little understanding of ongoing reform processes. End
Summary.


2. (C) On December 21, PM-Designate and HDZ President Ivo
Sanader named his new cabinet. As promised, the new
government will be smaller than its predecessor, with only 15
members. Because Sanader proposed to change the Croatian
bureaucracy so dramatically, the new parliament had to get
down to business on December 22, the day it was sworn in.
Over the objections of the opposition, the HDZ-led parliament
passed changes to legislation which combine ministerial
portfolios and change the structure of the government. The
coalition led by Sanader's HDZ does not have a majority in
parliament, but these first legislative changes show that the
political deals he made in the month since parliamentary
elections are holding.


3. (C) Despite his party's strong showing in elections,
Sanader had trouble forming his coalition; this is reflected
in the shape of his government. The HSLS -- which won only
two seats in parliament -- reportedly refused Sanader's offer
of a ministerial appointment. The only member of the new
government from a party other than the HDZ is Vesna
Skare-Ozbolt, Croatia's new Justice Minister.


4. (C) Even before the November 23 elections, Sanader told
the Ambassador that his new government would not include
figures from the bad old days of Tudjman's HDZ. He has kept
this commitment, but at the cost of appointing some outsiders
who have little experience on the Zagreb political scene.
These appointees will likely be slow to trust senior-level
ministry staff appointed during Racan's tenure and will be

ignorant of some key reform programs still underway.


5. (C) The changes in the structure of the government are
far-reaching and will take time to implement. Sanader has
pledged to slash the number of independent government
agencies and offices which had proliferated during the Racan
government. In an attempt to make the government bureaucracy
more efficient, he has done away with the position of Deputy
Minister (a political appointment) and introduced the
position of state secretary, a professional position which
does not require parliamentary approval. Plans include
creation of four new "at-large" state secretaries to ensure
sensitive projects move forward promptly.


6. (C) While most observers of Croatian politics are by now
familiar with HDZ president Ivo Sanader, we offer the
following thumbnail sketches of the new Prime Minister's
Cabinet to give an outline of the new Croatian Government.

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader
--------------

7. (C) A polished, eloquent salesman, Sanader (age 50) led
his HDZ party to a sweeping victory in the November 23
parliamentary elections less than four years after the HDZ
was ejected from government. Sanader sees himself as a
mainstream conservative in both the European and American
sense, with all the contradictions that implies. On one
hand, he wants to cut the size of government and cut taxes,
while on the other, he wants to protect domestic markets and
look after pensioners. He is eager to present the HDZ as
reformed and capable of making progress toward integration in
the EU and NATO. Sanader is fluent in English, German and
Italian.

Jadranka Kosor, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of
Family, Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity
-------------- --------------

8. (C) The only woman in the senior ranks of the patriarchal
HDZ, Kosor has become a strong political player in her own
right. A former journalist, she became politically active
when she covered Croat refugee issues during Croatia's
"homeland war." Kosor adds a human, even glamorous face to
the traditionally hard-line HDZ, and her approach to the
public is shaped by her status as a single mother caring for
an elderly, infirm parent. Most observers are still puzzled
as to what the "intergenerational solidarity" part of her
portfolio means, but all are certain it was included as part


of a package which won Sanader the support of the three MP's
from the Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU).

Andrija Hebrang, Deputy PM
Minister of Health and Social Welfare
--------------

9. (C) A long-time member of the HDZ, Hebrang served as
Minister of Health and (briefly) as Minister of Defense
during the Tudjman era. A bit of a political loose cannon,
Hebrang is apt to say whatever is on his mind and think of
consequences later. Deeply conservative, Hebrang's
prominence during the campaign helped the HDZ keep those
nationalist voters who might not have supported Sanader's
more progressive message. By appointing Hebrang as Deputy
Prime Minister, Sanader shows respect to his party's right
wing. By giving him the Health and Social Welfare
portfolios, Sanader clearly hopes to keep Hebrang from making
policy which could negatively affect Croatia's EU and NATO
integration. A cardiac radiologist who has published a
number of scientific works, Hebrang is one of Croatia's
leading physicians and continued to see patients daily
throughout his prior appointments.

Miomir Zuzul, Minister of Foreign Affairs
--------------

10. (C) A highly experienced diplomat and one of Sanader's
closest advisers, Zuzul's appointment was certain even before
the election campaign began. Zuzul remained in Washington
after his assignment as Croatia's Ambassador to the U.S. as a
consultant for Livingston/Moffett. His close ties to the
U.S. and his eagerness to improve bilateral relations have
drawn some criticism from the local press which suggests
that he should concentrate on being a "Croatian minister, not
an attorney of U.S. interests in Croatia."

Bozidar Kalmeta
Minister of the Sea, Traffic, Tourism and Development
-------------- --------------

11. (C) Kalmeta has been the mayor of the coastal city of
Zadar for the past ten years. Zadar has consistently posted
Croatia's strongest post-war economic growth numbers.
Kalmeta has a reputation of a pragmatic technocrat who worked
well with the opposition SDP government on projects for his
city. Kalmeta's efforts at the head of the HDZ campaign in
the 9th district produced the best result for the party
anywhere in Croatia. Sanader is loading up Kalmeta with
duties that had been the responsibility of three separate
ministries under the Racan government. Kalmeta's laid-back
interpersonal style is well suited to Zadar (or maybe to
Southern California),but with his new workload, Kalmeta may
have to keep his beloved motorcycles in the garage.
Kalmeta's international reputation is tainted by his tacit
agreement to the open display of support and sympathy for the
ICTY-indicted fugitive General Gotovina, whose photograph
prominently adorns the city walls in Zadar.

Ivan Suker, Minister of Finance
--------------

12. (C) Suker is Vice President of the HDZ and mayor Velika
Gorica, a sizeable town on the outskirts of Zagreb. Unlike
Kalmeta, however, he seems like an outsider and is perceived
as a bit of a hick by Zagreb's political elite. A successful
businessman, Suker has no experience in international finance
and is considered "nothing more than a bookkeeper" by his
critics. Suker will have a tough time keeping some of the
HDZ's more populist campaign promises like cutting the
value-added tax (PDV),increasing pension payments and
simplifying Croatia's income tax. Suker speaks no English,
but he will be aptly supported by two young Harvard-educated
advisers who will lend their technical expertise to this
political heavyweight.

Berislav Roncevic, Minister of Defense
--------------

13. (C) The least-known (and by all early accounts, the
least-qualified) of all of Sanader's appointments, Roncevic
was reportedly a last-minute choice. A lawyer by education,
Roncevic has been Mayor of the Slavonian small town of Nasice
since June 2003. His earlier career was in the town's
forestry administration. Roncevic's first political
statement as Minister-designate looks to us like a misstep;
in an initial interview, he declared that the old-style HDZ
nationalist Branimir Glavas is his political mentor. With no
political experience in Zagreb and no understanding of the
complex reform processes underway in the MOD, we will have to
work hard early in his tenure to bring Roncevic up to speed.

Marijan Mlinaric, Minister of Interior
--------------

14. (C) While Mlinaric seems to have little direct
experience to be Interior Minister, his strong party
credentials made it likely that he would be given some
position of prominence in the new government. A member of
the HDZ collective presidency, a former MP and a former


prefect of Varazdin county, Mlinaric is a surgeon by trade.
In his first statement to the press, he pledged to make
Croatia's police servants of the people and make sure
citizens do not view the police force as an instrument of
repression.

Branko Vukelic
Minister of Economy, Labor and Entrepreneurship
-------------- --

15. (C) Vukelic was elected Secretary General of the HDZ in
2002, at the same party convention in which Sanader
consolidated his control of the HDZ. Vukelic had been tipped
in the press as the nominee for Interior Minister, but when
the press reported rumors of a corruption scandal dating from
his days as mayor of the city of Karlovac, Sanader changed
his appointment. Vukelic will have a portfolio that had
previously been divided between three ministries; he will
face a significant management challenge.

Bozo Biskupic, Minister of Culture
--------------

16. (C) Biskupic served as the HDZ's Minister of Culture
from 1995 - 2000. Trained as both a lawyer and a museum
curator, Biskupic (age 65) has been inconspicuous in Croatian
politics in recent years. A collector of fine art, Biskupic
was for a time deputy mayor of Zagreb.

Petar Cobankovic
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management
-------------- --------------

17. (C) Cobankovic's background is in agriculture and he
looks the part of a farmer, but his campaign in Eastern
Slavonia turned out one of the best results for the HDZ.
During the war, Cobankovic was a leader in the defense of
Ilok, Croatia's easternmost town before the Serbs drove the
Croatians out. Cobankovic told us he will try to use his new
appointment to reduce Croatia's imports of food products, but
would not specify how he would accomplish this. Cobankovic
will be a reluctant Zagreber; he plans on keeping his large
family at home in eastern Croatia.

Marina Matulovic Dropulic, Minister of Environmental
Protection, Physical Planning and Construction.
-------------- --------------

18. (C) An architect by trade, Matulovic Dropulic had the
same portfolio in previous HDZ governments. She was Mayor of
Zagreb until 2000.

Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, Minister of European Integration
-------------- --------------

19. (C) A career diplomat and an associate of Sanader's
during his stint as Deputy Foreign Minister, Grabar Kitarovic
took a leave from the MFA to research her doctoral
dissertation on U.S. Foreign Policy (with help from a
Fullbright fellowship) at George Washington University. At
35, she will be the youngest member of Sanader's cabinet; she
will have big shoes to fill in following Neven Mimica.
Grabar Kitarovic spent a year as a high school exchange
student in Los Alamos.

Vesna Skare Ozbolt, Minister of Justice
--------------

20. (C) An attorney from Osijek, Skare Ozbolt began her
career as a senior aide to President Tudjman's, and was
heavily involved in the peaceful reintegration of Eastern
Slavonia in the late 1990's. Skare Ozbolt is now president
of the Democratic Center (DC) party, the only party other
than the HDZ to take an appointment to Sanader's cabinet.
Skare Ozbolt has told the press that she sees her role not as
a jurist, but as a manager; she intends to leave technical
work to experts in her ministry. Sanader recently refuted
early press reports that he would personally oversee the
relationship with ICTY -- he asserted that the Justice
Ministry would retain this function. Skare Ozbolt strikes us
as smart, tough and dedicated to Croatia's integration into
Euro-Atlantic institutions. Unfortunately, as the only
non-HDZ member in the cabinet, she may be viewed with
suspicion by her colleagues; this may impede her work.

Dragan Primorac, Minister of Science, Education and Sports
-------------- --------------

21. (C) Primorac is Sanader's only nominee who is not
formally a member of any political party. Primorac has been
active in the process of identifying the remains of missing
persons from the war and helped develop the Racan
government's relationship with the International Commission
on Missing Persons. Primorac studied medicine in the U.S.
and now teaches forensic medicine at three medical schools in
Croatia.

Vladimir Seks, President of the Parliament
--------------

22. (C) While he is not a member of the cabinet, Seks
(pronounced Sheks) will probably be Sanader's most important


ally in pushing forward the HDZ's legislative agenda. As the
whip of the HDZ when they were in opposition during the last
parliament, Seks used his considerable procedural expertise
to keep the Racan government as uncomfortable as possible.
Now, as the speaker of a parliament where his party's
coalition has no clear majority, he will need all of his
political cunning to keep the government's agenda from being
derailed. Although never indicted, Seks is a symbol of the
corruption and cronyism which marked the late Tudjman era.
His personal style is not confrontational, and he has an
ironic sense of humor; at one recent social function, he
greeted poloff by saying "Hello, I'm the reformed Seks."
FRANK


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