Croatian Democratic Union
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Croatian political party | |
| Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica | |
|---|---|
| Croatian Democratic Union | |
 |
|
| Leader | Ivo Sanader |
| Preceded by: Franjo Tuđman | |
| Franjo Tuđman in office from: | |
| May 1990 - December 1999 | |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Zagreb |
| Colours | Red, White, Blue from the flag |
| Political Ideology | Conservatism, Christian democracy, formerly Croatian nationalism and Populism |
| European Affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | International Democratic Union Centrist Democrat International |
| Former Yugoslav State Affiliation | |
| Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Website | Croatian Democratic Union Website |
| See also | Political parties |
The Croatian Democratic Union (Croatian: Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ) is the main center-right political party in Croatia. The Christian democrat HDZ ruled Croatia from 1990 to 1999 and, in partial coalition, since 2003. The party is an associate member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The HDZ was founded in June 1989 by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by the late Franjo Tuđman. When the party was founded, the multi-party system in Croatia was at an embryonic stage and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were frowned upon. The HDZ was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner, and its first offices were in one Zagreb shack. Because of that the party founders proudly call themselves barakaši - from "baraka", which is Croatian word for "shack".
Despite such humble beginnings, the party quickly benefited from the loosening of Communist control. Tuđman and other HDZ officials travelled abroad and gathered large financial contributions from Croatian expatriates with this reflected in a more nationalist HDZ platform.
On the eve of the 1990 elections, the ruling Croatian Communist Party saw such tendencies within the HDZ as an opportunity to remain in power. The voting system was tailored to favour the two strongest parties and it was assumed that Croatian voters would opt for the ruling Communists, rebranded in as the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, as a lesser evil than the HDZ which was described as "the party of dangerous intentions". At the elections this proved to be miscalculation, because the overwhelming majority of Croatian people that actually voted in elections saw the patriotism of the HDZ not only as the way to get rid of Communism and Yugoslavia, but also as the proper answer to what they saw as "Serb nationalism", embodied in part by Slobodan Milošević. The HDZ won a majority in the Croatian Parliament and Croatia became one of few countries of Eastern Europe where the Communist single party rule was replaced by anti-Communist single party rule. May 30, 1990 - the day the HDZ formally took power - was later celebrated as Statehood Day, a public holiday in Croatia.
[edit] Tuđman presidency
The presidential elections followed in 1992 and Tuđman, who would remain as undisputed party leader until his death in 1999, was elected president.
The party ruled Croatia throughout the 1990s and under its leadership, Croatia became independent (1991), was internationally recognised (1992), and consolidated all of its pre-war territory (by 1998). During that period the HDZ had its power confirmed by the 1992 and 1995 parliamentary elections.
As it strongly advocated Croatian independence, the HDZ was quite unpopular with the Serb minority who largely opposed Croatia's independence preferring to see Croatia remain inside the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This was one of the factors contributing to the creation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina and the subsequent armed conflict in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. The role of the HDZ in those events is matter of controversy, even in Croatia where some tend to view HDZ policy in early stages of the conflict as extremist and a contributing factor in the escalation of violence, while others see the HDZ as having appeased Serbia and the Yugoslav People's Army, and therefore, responsible for Croatia not being properly prepared for defence. It should be noted that the policies of Tuđman and the HDZ shifted according to the circumstances and that the more controversial among them could be properly judged only in the historic, economic, military and political context.
The HDZ also led Croatia through the process of political and economic transition from communism to capitalism. Notably, HDZ governments implemented privatization in the country, in a manner which the critics consider suboptimal.
The goal of the suboptimal process, as stated publicly by Franjo Tuđman, was to create a core of 200 Croatian families who would leverage the majority of Croatia's wealth. The plan, unsurprisingly, failed miserably on its economics, but it proved a useful distraction from dealing with the baggage of post-WWII communist nationalizations. In fact it was the HDZ in 1992 which enacted into law the right of corporations (the vast majority of which were under state ownership) the right to finally formally register themselves as the owners of nationalized property thus completing the process of nationalization started by the communist regime after WWII.
Many tycoons emerged in a pattern of state-sponsored loans brokered with HDZ influence, with the purpose of dissolving the state of ownership and accountability to the public of the campaign financing by companies privatized in this way. This model was abused, not only by the HDZ, but also by other political parties in Croatia, even though their share in the privatization was barely significant.
Not all of the nationalized property was dealt with in this way. The property of those who could lobby the HDZ or had substantial influence in Croatian politics was returned without much delay. These include possessions nationalized from the Catholic Church or widely known individuals such as Mr. Gavrilović, owner of a major meat-producing factory in Petrinja south of Zagreb.
In terms of ideology, HDZ leaders at first described their party as right-wing, and Tuđman himself stated that he was inspired by Thatcherism. Later, the party described itself as centre-right and Christian Democrat. However, the only official ideology was national reconciliation - idea that descendants of Croatian Partisans and Ustashas should patch up the differences between their ancestors and work together in order to create a modern, independent and democratic Croatia. In practice, this policy saw the powerful defence minister Gojko Šušak, head of the HDZ hardline faction, win Tuđman's favour. Stjepan Mesić and Josip Manolić, Tuđman's associates opposed to such tendencies, left the party in 1994 and formed the Croatian Independent Democrats. These tendencies were toned down after the end of the war and the HDZ, concerned with more mundane aspects of politics, became a mainly social conservative party.
The end of war and reintegration of Croatian territory also switched Croatian people's attention from independence and foreign relations to the more mundane issues of the economy and living standards. In the late 1990s this coincided with Tuđman's illness, which sparked bitter succession struggles between various factions within HDZ. These factions fought using friendly media and leaking compromising information about opponents' role in shadier aspects of privatisation. This, as well as Tuđman's mishandling of the Zagreb Crisis, did much to undermine HDZ popularity.
[edit] HDZ after Tuđman's death
All this, together with Tuđman's death in December 1999, had an impact on the 2000 parliamentary elections. Although the HDZ remained the largest party, it was thoroughly defeated by a left-centre coalition of six opposition parties and many saw large turnout as referendum against the HDZ, just as the 1990 elections had been seen as referendum on Communism and Yugoslavia. This impression was underlined at the subsequent presidential election, when the HDZ candidate Mate Granić, heavily favoured to win, finished 3rd and failed to enter the second round of voting, won by Stipe Mesić.
In the period from 2000 and 2003, several businessmen who became tycoons under the initial HDZ rule were tried and convicted for alleged abuses, though in general the privatization process implemented by the HDZ remained unaltered.
This period proved to be a low point for the HDZ and many thought that party could not recover. Those included Mate Granić, who, together with Vesna Škare-Ožbolt, left to form the centre-right Democratic Centre (DC).
The HDZ began to recover when the International Criminal Tribunal began to prosecute Croatian Army commanders, thus creating major backlash among the Croatian public. Popular discontent manifested itself in mass rallies. Although the HDZ and new leader Ivo Sanader took part in those events and supported the protests, they gradually began to distance themselves from the more extreme rhetoric, becoming perceived as moderates. This tendency continued with Croatian Social Liberal Party shifting rightwards, making Sanader's HDZ appear centrist in comparison. This process was finalised in 2002 when Ivić Pašalić, leader of the HDZ hardliners and perceived to be associated with the worst excesses of Tuđman's era, challenged Sanader for party leadership, accusing him of betraying Tuđman's nationalist legacy. At first it looked that Sanader would lose, but with the help of Branimir Glavaš and the tacit support of liberal sections of Croatian public opinion, he won at the party convention. Pašalić then left the HDZ to form the Croatian Bloc party.
This allowed Sanader to present the HDZ as a "reformed" party, purged of the more controversial aspects of the Tuđman legacy, and to convince the public that returning the HDZ to power would not jeopardise democratic standards in Croatia. As such, the HDZ started to be perceived as a credible democratic alternative to the government of Ivica Račan, then plagued by indecision, inefficiency, corruption and factional struggles.
[edit] Sanader government 2003–
At the legislative elections of November 2003, the party won 33.9% of the popular vote and 66 out of 151 seats. Although it failed to win a clear majority in Croatian Parliament, even with the help of the allied DC and HSLS, it formed the government with the nominally left-wing Independent Democratic Serbian Party and Croatian Party of Pensioners.
With such a broad and diverse mandate, the Sanader-led government vigorously pursued policies that amounted to the implementation of the basic criteria for joining the European Union, such as the return of refugees to their homes, rebuilding houses damaged in the war, improving minority rights by including minority representatives in the government, cooperating with the ICTY, and continuing to consolidate the Croatian economy. Despite this the EU's Council of Ministers postponed Croatia's start of membership negotiations with the union on grounds of non-cooperation with the Hague Tribunal over the case of indicted general Ante Gotovina.
This setback brought an increase in Eurosceptic views among the Croatian public, which also affected support for the HDZ. Since accession to EU is key part of Sanader's reformist course, the opposition to Sanader within and outside HDZ is on the rise. This opposition manifested itself at the 2005 local elections and the defection of Glavaš, who not only successfully challenged Sanader's authority but also managed to nominally deprive Sanader of his parliamentary majority.
