För en dryg vecka sedan skickade Draženka mig en länk till en artikel i The Economist, en kort, mycket överskådlig artikel om händelser i de olika ex-jugoslaviska staterna i början av december.
Jag känner igen innehållet i stycket som handlar om Kroatien från vad jag hört och sett här:
Croatia. At least the pollsters were right in Croatia. Yesterday’s election saw a crushing defeat for the ruling right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which has been in power for 17 of the last 21 years. The final results look set to give the left-leaning Kukuriku (“cock-a-doodle-do”) coalition 80 seats and the HDZ 47 in the 151-seat Sabor (parliament). At the core of Kukuriku is the Social Democratic Party; its leader Zoran Milanovic will be Croatia’s new prime minister.
The new government will have two immediate tasks. First, after signing its EU accession treaty on Friday it must organise a referendum, which is likely to pass. A trickier issue will be getting the economy back on track. Croatia’s state administration is bloated, and public companies are overstaffed. The main banks are in Austrian and Italian hands. Boris Vujcic, deputy head of the national bank, says that there is still time to rein in Croatia’s growing debts, but that the new government needs to act fast to stop them spinning out of control “as in some other countries.” That will mean cuts to jobs and spending.
och även det i artikeln som rör Slovenien är mig i stort sett bekant:
Slovenia. A shock result in yesterday’s election. Polls made it clear that the Social Democrats of Borut Pahor were on their way out of office. But they also indicated that Janez Jansa, a former prime minister and veteran right-winger, would return to power. They were wrong. Victory, with 28.5% of the vote, went to the brand new Positive Slovenia party of Zoran Jankovic, the mayor of Ljubljana and a former retail tycoon.
Mr Jankovic appears to have gained 28 out 90 seats in parliament, which means he could face weeks of tough coalition talks. Despite taking only ten seats the Social Democrats could remain in government. A weak administration may make it hard to push through the tough reforms that many people believe Slovenia needs.
så jag antar att det som står om resten är lika sant. Och dessutom är det intressant.