Croatia’s government makes a strong start

Three months into Croatia's new nationalist-led government's term, the verdict is so far, so good. The administration has worked double time to promote Croatia's chances of following neighbouring Slovenia into the EU. But it must now boost growth and get on top of the country's deteriorating public finances. Peter Lee reports.

Sanader (left) and Prodi

SINCE HE TOOK office on December 23, the actions of Croatia’s prime minister, Ivo Sanader, have confounded those who feared a return to nationalism and isolationism under the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica – HDZ), the party he now heads. In foreign affairs, Sanader has picked up where the outgoing prime minister, Ivica Racan, president of the Socijaldemokratska Partija Hrvatske, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), left off.

To foreign politicians, Racan had personified the new and modern Croatia that sought good relations with western Europe.

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