A BUSINESSMAN IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE Nadan Vidosevic says he is a precedent of sorts as it has not happened to date that a successful businessman would run for President, and points out that no one cared how wealthy he was while president of the Chamber of Commerce
'If I become the third President, I will personally lead the fight against crime and corruption. It is the cancer of our country and the President has to stand at the head of all those trying to secure a better living in this country. And the fact that some of the press and political adversaries have over the past days accused me of getting rich in suspicious ways shows that they are, lacking better arguments, becoming nervous," said a confident Nadan Vidosevic when we spoke with him on Monday morning in his office on the first floor of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. In spite of his emphasised self-confidence, the impression is that Vidosevic, and his closest aids, did not expect to have to face accusations of wealth amassed through illicit means.
The first such information surfaced at the beginning of this summer, and then last week several newspaper articles and TV shows said that he had tried to conceal information concerning a part of his assets. Martina Sokac, his spokeswoman and long time associate, with quite a dose of anger in her voice, tried to explain that these were unfair barbs, since "Vidosevic was the first to publish all data concerning his own assets, while the real estate mentioned in the press belongs to his mother, and are not a part of the assets of the presidential candidate." Nadan Vidosevic is of the same mind, and after a short comment that his critics did not present any evidence, turned the matter around and said that he would be the one to take on crime. Asked whether he through it was significant that questions are being asked concerning the origins of his assets, Vidosevic, in his fashion, only offered a simple answer to the effect that he is a precedent in Croatian politics, as it has never happened yet that a successful businessman would run for the top job in the country.
His explanation boils down to the fact that while he was the non-political president of the Chamber of Commerce no one was interested in how rich he was, and not his opponents do not know how to compromise him and are concocting scandals and glossing over his capabilities. While he explains how he gained his wealth - and in doing so endeavouring to refute the accusations that he earn his money through illicit means - it must be confessed that Vidosevic shows no signs of nervousness. What is more, this path from the socialist middle class in Split to Zagreb's Pantovcak quarter and the accrual of real estate and a collection of paintings worth several million euro in his interpretation sounds quite simple. "I would put my parents first, because thanks to them I never had to be a tenant and received my formal and informal education. I had a car when only a few people from my generation could afford one, and that tells of a very solid starting point. And, however pretentious it may sound, one has to take into account my capabilities, knowledge and work. Everything I did, I did entirely on my own - I have never done business with the state or taken part in the privatisation process. I am proof that you can succeed in Croatia even if you are not part of the system, and that is why I know that I will continue to be attacked by those who live off other people's work or who grew up on Communist Party sinecures," Nadan Vidosevic explained.
In short he is entering the presidential race with the proposition that "In fifteen years time I do not want to say that I knew how to get out of this crisis, but did nothing. That is why in this campaign if I become the President my motto will be 'Everything I have and know, I'm in my best years, I want to give for Croatia.'" Accusations of the illicit accumulation of wealth may have hurt his campaign, but as far as strategy goes, Vidosevic will not change his tune, and that means putting the economy first. Croatia is in the midst of a crisis and in spite of warnings that the President cannot influence the national economy, he will insist above all on this issue in the campaign.
There is no doubt that he is aware that a great many voters see him as a capable economist, and that is why he has already drafted a four-point plan in the role of Stipe Mesic's successor. First, Nadan Vidosevic believes that there needs to be a restructuring of the way decisions are made in Croatia, and he wants to set up a kind of triangle of communication between the President, the Prime Minister and the Croatian National Bank. These three institutions need to create a single economic policy, and at a later phase this triumvirate would be joined by Parliament and the judiciary. Second, as President he will insist that our diplomatic offices take on a bigger role in promoting the Croatian economy. For now only some Croatian embassies in neighbouring countries have taken on this role, while the rest of the diplomacy is inactive, says Vidosevic. That is why he sees himself in the role of President as an official that will press the diplomacy to work on promoting Croatian products abroad.BAGPIPE ENTHUSIAST Vidosevic picked up some bagpipes at a recent Benkovac fair
Third, Vidosevic sees the intelligence community as a key pillar of his policies. Since there is peace in the region and no signs of new conflict, espionage should also be used to develop the national economy. In the presidential campaign it is to be expected that Vidosevic expresses opinions to the effect that the intelligence community should being working intensively on monitoring the origin of capital invested in Croatia, and to dedicate its efforts abroad to economic espionage. Well, he may not be so candid about it in public appearances, but that is the essence of Vidosevic's plan to get the intelligence community working on the development of the Croatian economy. Some types of weaponry produced by the Croatian military industry are considered to be among the best in the world, and Vidosevic says we can also make the best of our membership in NATO.
It is an open question just how realistic a plan that is, but for now he is the only Presidential candidate who has chosen to address the military-industrial complex with a concrete initiative. This is, besides, in line with his intention of creating links to war vets, most of which are partial to the HDZ. But when he was in Sisak a week ago, Nadan Vidosevic had his first meeting with local veterans, who met with him in spite of the opposition of a few veterans affiliated with the HDZ. Vidosevic has also picked up on SDP MP Ante Kotromanovic's idea and intends to push the idea, during the campaign, that the veterans themselves name their heroes of the Homeland War. When Kotromanovic presented the idea the HDZ rejected it and it has not been mentioned since, but it has now been revitalised by their political opponent Nadan Vidosevic. But one need not expect him to enter into a conflict with the HDZ. Vidosevic recently vehemently criticised Ivo Sanader, calling his departure from the office of Prime Minister desertion, and in our interview, evidently alluding to the former Prime Minister, he underlined "political populism" as the greatest danger to Croatia, explaining that it was a "delayed action crime". Unlike the explicitly negative opinion of Sanader, Vidosevic has only the best to say about the work of Jadranka Kosor. This is quite the opposite from announcements that he intended to speak out soon against the Prime Minister, and as her best attribute he cited honesty.
THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND THE SUCCESSOR Vidosevic has characterised the sudden departure of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader as "desertion", and speaks positively of Jadranka Kosor because of her "honesty"
"I have positive expectations of Jadranka Kosor because she is not corrupt. The choice of this kind of person at the post of Prime Minister is an important message to our allies, and you can be sure that I will not attack her during the campaign. I also value the fact that she has broached the issue of the way the system works, and has in the space of only a few weeks become a credible partner to the international community. I am convinced that, as time goes by, Jadranka Kosor's political position of will be even stronger," forecasts Nadan Vidosevic. Avoiding conflict with the head of the ruling party shows that Vidosevic wants to take some of the HDZ vote. Which is why he rejects the proposition that he is a HDZ turncoat and recalls the fact that he remained a member in 2000 when many turned tail after the defeat at the polls. It is an open question what part of the HDZ voter population will support him, but it is evident that Vidosevic is looking to set himself up above all with liberal-leaning Croatians, but also not to jump out of the national "mainstream". Proof of this is his answer at the end of the interview when we asked him how he, as a presidential candidate, felt about the recent statement from Bishop Slobodan Stambuk that the "Croatian President should be a Catholic." "I am religious in the sense of the Christian tradition, but I think that it is not necessary for the Croatian President to be a Catholic. The President is the expression of the will and needs of the majority of the nation and it is the people who will decide who they want at the post," says Nadan Vidosevic.
A WELL-OFF, BUT NOT WEALTHY FAMILY
■ Explaining how he managed to buy up hundreds of square metres of residential space, hundreds of hectares of land and one of the most valuable private art collections in the space of a decade, Nadan Vidosevic said that he had a good starting position thanks to his parents. That is, however, only partly true, because his parents were not wealthy, but were well educated and by virtue of that alone had a better social position.
■ His family on his father's side hails form the village of Brocanac in the Dalmatinska Zagora region. That is where his grandfather Frane Vidosevic was born, who worked during the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the conductor of the "Sinjska rera" train that travelled between Split and Sinj. As he lived in a small apartment at the Dugopolje train station, that was were Nadan's father Ante was born. At the time, when most people lived as farmers, the profession of train conductor meant a good wage, and Frane Vidosevic had the opportunity to send both of his sons to university. Nadan's father Ante received a state scholarship as a fifteen-year-old, and after the Home Guard's Academy during World War II he gradated economics, earning the title of engineer of economics. An since he was only 16 years old when Ante Pavelic came to power, the stories of his having stolen some Ustashe gold are absurd. Ante's brother, Nadan's uncle, finished law and went to Canada, where he later made his fortune.
■ For his part Ante Vidosevic got a job in the accounting department of the Dalmacijacement company, ad advanced from the post of head of accounting to the post of Finance Director and had one of the better wages in the company. Everyone remembers him as a top-notch expert and a man with a broad education and interests, and for a time he taught finance and accounting at the School of Economics in Split. The employees noticed, however, that he was always in fear of falling afoul of his superiors. He was very religious and went to church regularly. He was very modest and there was nothing that might lead one to conclude that he was wealthy. The only thing he had was some land in Nezire, were for years he slowly build a cottage. He married Split native Marija Tudor, also an economics graduate whose entire family fought with the Communist liberation movement in World War II, and who lost two brothers at the Battle of Sutjeska. Ante and Marija lived in an 80 square metre apartment in Kamenita Street, as one of the first to get such housing from Dalmacijacement. They got their son Nadan on 30 January 1960, and then Tomislav on 1 January 1965. They divorced, however, in the 1970s, and the children lived with their mother in the Split's Spinut quarter, where they attended school. Their mother worked as the head of the savings department in the Jugobank branch office on the Split waterfront, so she was an average office worker, but there was also no great wealth to speak of. Ante Vidosevic remarried and his second wife, who had graduated medicine, later died of cancer. He was himself diabetic. He passed away in the early 1990s.
■ It was while his father was still the Finance Director that the young economics graduate Nadan Vidosevic was employed at Dalmacijacement as a trainee. That was in the early 1980s, and he started, as he says himself, as a planning and analysis clerk at Dalmacijacement's Salonit factory.
■ "I had my first major management post as the assistant director for economic and financial operations at what was then the biggest cement factory in Yugoslavia, Partizan, now the Sveti Juraj factory. For a time I served as the General Director of Dalmacijacement," Nadan Vidosevic told Nacional a few years ago. As already one of the top people at Dalmacijacement, in 1990 he was given an apartment of some 200 square metres in an apartment building not far from Split Hospital the company was building for its employees. By some accounts the apartment was refurbished by Dalmacijacement workers. But as of 1992 it was for the most part only Nadan's wife Ina, his secondary school sweetheart who he married at the age of 22, that lived their with their kids. She was a kindergarten teacher, and in 1995 she moved to join her husband in Zagreb, now the Minister of the Economy in the Government of Nikica Valentic. Her husband later paid into the pension fund to meet the requirements for her early retirement.
■ In his own words, having sold his apartment in Split, Nadan Vidosevic purchased the Ivan Mestrovic Atelier for 500 thousand euro, and later earned a million euro on its sale. But, while the apartment did cover 200 square metres, it is an open question if he could, at the time, have sold it for half a million euro. (O.G.)
