The renowned Swiss newspaper criticized Croatia: According to the neighbors, the inexorable, economic disappointment, the country of cultural war ...

Leading Swiss newspaper "Neue Zurcher Zeitung" has published a very shart analysis of Croatia's position in the European Union, as well the situation of Croatian society. 

17 years since the democratic changes

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This newspaper considers that the statement by Croat President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic on Bosnia and Herzegovina is an "absurdity", and they show the prime minister of Croatia as an undecisive pro-European politician, who is afraid of his own political party more than the opposition.

- The latest member of the European Union after four years since joining failed to fulfill the expectations - said the papers, adding that Croatia should "take the leading role in the region, and they are fighting with neighbors and within themselves", reports the Croatian portal "Indeks".

The papers say that Croatia is a disappointment in an economic sense, looking back at the statistics that the average income per citizen is 40 percent from the European average.

- According to the neighbors, this country behaved irrationally - considers the newspapers and points out the conflicts Croatia has with Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Hungary.

The statements of the president Grabar Kitarovic about 10.000 terrorists in BiH are particularly stressed, they are interpreted as "nonsense" and that only ignites the conflict with the neighboring state for no reason.

Foto: Tanjug/Tanja Valič

They accuse the president of failing to take into account the special responsibility of Croatia as one of the signatories to the Dayton Accords and that she "unwittingly decided to go in the opposite direction".

The paper sees the problem of the arbitration decision on the border with Slovenia as a matter of "national prestige" for Croatia, considering the amount of coastline they have. 

It is alleged that Slovenia has decided to block Croatia's access to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and that they consider a lawsuit before the EU Court, while Croatia does not recognize arbitration at all and "seeks new negotiations".

The Swiss newspaper ironically concludes that there is no end to "Croatian tension with its neighbors", but also that there is a vibrant situation is in the internal political relations.

- Prime Minister Plenkovic has a majority in parliament. It depends on the unreliable extreme right support in his party, as well on the minority representatives.

He does not have internal security in order to lead the government in a steady direction - the papers said, adding that Plenkovic needed "10 lost months" to remove the plaque with Ustasha greeting from Jasenovac.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

The paper also states that there is a cultural war in Croatia.

- Within the society and within the government in Croatia, there is a cultural war. As in some other European countries, in Croatia, revisionist forces have grown to believe that with the history of the Second World War they should not have a "frustrated relationship" - the Swiss newspaper says.

While Plenkovic was indecisive for 10 months to move the plaque "there was a strong debate in the public if the fascist greeting is actually the "old Croatian", as the president claimed", writes the papers.

Foto: sibenik.in

The paper further concludes that Croatia is being blocked by "an unresolved attitude towards the past" and because of that, there is a fear of the rightist forces, because "the country is undergoing a cultural war".

At the end of the analysis, the paper concludes that they don't expect that Croatia will recover anytime soon - nighter economically, nor socially. 

The image of Croatia is pretty tainted within EU, considering that we only stand out with fights and with failed expectations. It is significant that foreign media as well see that the actual leadership of the state is not up to the challenge - marks the porta "Indeks".

(Telegraf.co.uk / Tanjug)