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| 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. They approved of him. Now, if anything, Sanader has increased the sense of urgency underlying efforts to secure Croatian membership of the great western alliances.
He has been tireless in his efforts to woo those outside Croatia whose approval it needs to fulfil its ambitions of joining Nato and the EU. In the first few weeks of 2004, Sanader met Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, EC president Romano Prodi, Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Netherlands' Jan-Peter Balkenende, Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker and Portugal's José Manuel Durão Barroso.
