A Conversation with HSS President Krešo Beljak

A Conversation with the President

Krešo Beljak began like this: “I’m the first president of HSS who was never a member of the Communist Party. I fought in the Homeland War as a soldier in the Croatian Army. I’m neither left nor right; I’m a progressive. We joined forces with the SDP because they were the only ones willing to help. When I took over, the party was drowning in debt. Since then we’ve put its finances in order, helped, of course, by the five seats we won in the last election. Our program hasn’t changed: making life better for people in villages and on the outskirts of towns.”

When I asked how many members HSS has, he said he didn’t know. In Friščić’s day there were about 57,000.

My wife Vera, who was with me, asked him whether he would be willing to visit Canada. “Why not?” he replied. He offered to pay his own way, and I told him that wouldn’t be necessary.

We parted on very warm terms.

Croatia is struggling with deep poverty. 28.5% of the population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The poverty line is 2,139 kuna for a single person and 4,492 kuna for a family of four, which means almost 1.2 million Croatians are barely getting by.

The Ivica Todorić affair shows better than anything how deeply corrupt politics is tangled up with Croatia’s economy. The emigration of young people dominates the country’s demographic picture: 20,000 people left Croatia in the first six months of this year alone. If this continues, it will clearly lead to a national demographic catastrophe.

There is good news from home, too. This was the best tourist season on record, and Croatia’s economic indicators are improving.

There is hope; not everything is bleak.

Regards, Đuro