{"id":360022,"date":"2024-05-10T12:33:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T10:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/05\/10\/croazia-estrema-destra-governo-plenkovic\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T16:04:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T14:04:09","slug":"croatia-veers-to-the-extreme-right-plenkovic-forms-government-with-homeland-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/05\/10\/croatia-veers-to-the-extreme-right-plenkovic-forms-government-with-homeland-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Croatia veers to the (extreme) right. Plenkovi\u0107 forms government with Homeland Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – All the signs emerged after the outcome of early elections on\u00a0April 17, but now Croatia is poised to veer even further to the right. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party decided to forge a governing alliance with the far-right nationalist Homeland Movement <\/strong>and, this morning (May 10), the outgoing prime minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107<\/strong> announced with a post<\/a> on X that he\u00a0received a mandate from the President of the Republic, Zoran Milanovi\u0107<\/strong>, to form the new cabinet of ministers and present it next week to the Sabor<\/em> (the Croatian single-chamber Parliament) for a vote of confidence.<\/p>\n

\"Croazia<\/a>
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 (credits: Damir Sencar \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Even in the third term, we will continue to work to improve” Croatia, Plenkovi\u0107 exulted as he announced the 78 signatures (out of 151) of deputies who will support his third consecutive government since 2016<\/strong>. But the real difference from the past concerns precisely the political direction of his executive with the unprecedented majority partners. The Homeland Movement (DP) is a party founded in 2020 by radical nationalists and far-right conservatives who spilled out of Plenkovi\u0107’s Croatian Democratic Union<\/strong> because of its gradual shift toward centrist positions. After weeks of uncertainty after the April 17 elections, <\/a>due to a fragmented political landscape, the party\u00a0joining the European family of the EPP (European People’s Party) decided to veer decisively to the right, signing an agreement with the nationalists, a clear indication for the super election year <\/a>in Croatia that will continue with the European elections (on June 9) and the presidential elections (in December)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Ivan<\/a><\/figure>\n

Homeland Movement President Ivan Penava (credits: Afp)<\/p>\n

The Homeland Movement party is led by Ivan Penava<\/strong>, mayor of Vukovar, one of the centers of\u00a0the eastern Slavonia region that was most devastated during the early stages of Croatia’s war of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Since its founding, the party has sought to provide the Croatian electorate – especially the rural one – with a more patriotic alternative and highly polarizing rhetoric on social and historical issues<\/strong>, in controversy with the internal restructuring of the HDZ to less nationalist positions by its chairman (since 2016), Plenkovi\u0107. Among those responsible for historical denial of Croatian war crimes during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and nostalgic for the Usta\u0161a era (the Croatian nationalist and clerical-fascist movement led by Ante Paveli\u0107<\/strong>, an ally of German Nazis and Italian fascists during World War II), most of its current members are the same\u00a0who between 2016 and 2020 Plenkovi\u0107 had neutralized or removed from the HDZ<\/strong> and who now find themselves holding the fate of the majority on which the new cabinet of the ‘moderate’ prime minister will depend.<\/p>\n

The third Plenkovi\u0107 government could undergo a reversal on the right to abortion<\/strong> – already a\u00a0controversial issue in the country, even though by law it is guaranteed up to the tenth week – and on same-sex civil unions<\/strong> (legal since 2014), given the tough stance on this issue by Homeland Movement\u00a0 nationalists, who position themselves in favor of the Catholic Church’s greater weight in domestic politics to push traditional family and anti-abortion ‘values.\u00a0There is also a risk of heightened ethnic tensions in Croatia<\/strong>, given the opposition of the new governing partners to the inclusion of the Serbian Independent Democratic Party (SDSS) in the majority, which supported the second Plenkovi\u0107 government from 2020 to the present. In addition, there is uncertainty over the intentions of the HDZ leade after the June election round as, like Italian Prime Minister\u00a0Giorgia Meloni, Plenkovi\u0107 will\u00a0lead his\u00a0party in the European elections. I<\/strong>t is unclear, however, whether he will stop at the push to elect as many MEPs as possible or seek a new role in Brussels (after serving as an MEP between 2013 and 2016). Eyes are particularly on the scenarios that could open up for the presidency of the European Commission if Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>‘s candidacy falls through.<\/p>\n

The turbulent 2024 in Croatia<\/h3>\n

Until the beginning of the year, Premier Plenkovi\u0107’s HDZ seemed headed for a quiet reappointment in the elections scheduled for the fall. Then, in early March, the government\u00a0brought them forward<\/a>\u00a0before the June European elections to limit the political damage of the wave of protests in major cities across the country<\/a>. In addition to pressure from individual professional groups over dissatisfaction with Plenkovi\u0107<\/strong> cabinet policies — from teachers to judges and doctors over salaries to journalists against changes to the Criminal Code to make it a crime to publish leaks — the center and left-wing parties catalyzed the desire to “defend democracy” in Croatia<\/strong>. In particular, protests focused on the appointment of Ivan Turudi\u0107<\/strong> as attorney general with the green light from Croatian deputies (the swearing-in took place on March 13) because of his proximity to the HDZ and the possibility he would protect Plenkovi\u0107 from corruption cases should he lose his immunity after the election round.<\/p>\n

\"Plenkovic<\/a>
From left: the president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovi\u0107, and the outgoing prime minister, Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 (credits: Denis Lovrovic \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What disrupted the campaign, however, was President Milanovi\u0107, who surprised voters<\/a>\u00a0by announcing his candidacy for Prime Minister as head of the Croatian Social Democrats. However, the Constitutional Court immediately declared Milanovi\u0107’s candidacy unconstitutional if he did not first resign from the position he currently holds<\/strong>: a decision branded as “illiterate” by the President of the Republic, who continued to tour the country to campaign for the SDP and the center-left coalition. The President of the Republic, in office since 2020 and former premier between 2011 and 2016, is the most popular political figure in Croatia. However, his ambiguous rhetoric towards Russia and the war in Ukraine<\/strong>, as well as that on his relationship with the leader of Republika Srpska (the Serb-majority entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Milorad Dodik<\/strong>, and with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>, make him a loose cannon for the younger, more progressive electorate.<\/p>\n

\n

Find more insights on the Balkan region in the BarBalkans newsletter<\/a> hosted by Eunews<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The incumbent premier since 2016 received the mandate to form a new executive and can count on a 78-member majority in the single-chamber parliament with the support of radical nationalists. A new development in the Croatian political landscape that is likely to impact social rights and revisionist rhetoric of the recent past<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":359949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[26490,26944,26945,27621,25778,26748,27830],"class_list":["post-360022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-andrej-plenkovic-en","tag-croatia-en","tag-elezioni-croazia-2024-en","tag-unione-democratica-croata-en","tag-europeanelections-2024-en","tag-european24-en","tag-movement-per-la-patria-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360022"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360112,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360022\/revisions\/360112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}