A VISION FOR THE ECONOMY Nadan Vidosevic has a structured plan of how to make the best of the advantages Croatia's economy offers, and as President he would launch talks with the Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament because he sees himself as Croatia's political playmaker "I think my third place in the opinion polls is very good, all the more so as I have the support of a broad range of voters, from the political left, centre and right. There is a feeling that I am touching on topics of general concern for the country, bereft of ideological denomination, and that is a good indicator in this phase of the campaign," was Nadan Vidosevic's comment of an opinion poll according to which he will win about 15 percent of the popular vote, and trails behind Ivo Josipovic and Milan Bandic. And while the campaign officially kicked off on Thursday, November 19th, Vidosevic's campaign has been in full swing for a few weeks now, which is borne out by the fact that this interview for Nacional was scheduled for November 18th, just before 9 pm, as the only free timeslot available.

Opinion polls show that Nadan Vidosevic has not been hurt by allegations of the dubious origins of his family assets. The president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy and the CEO of confectionary manufacturer Kras truly is rich – he is the owner of several luxurious houses in Zagreb, Dalmatia, Gorski kotar and Kupres, land in Istria and a costly art collection. The value of his assets is not under ten million euro, which even at the European level makes him one of the wealthier politicians. In this interview he is quite nonchalant in refuting criticism levelled at him, and says that he is by his own example helping to break the prejudicial opinion that it is not good for the affluent to be involved in public life. Vidosevic is building an image of an enterprising presidential candidate in a position to secure the development of the economy based on the principle that "If I have taken care of myself, then I'll take care of others too." It remains to be seen if the voters will subscribe to his claim.

NACIONAL: Who is the more dangerous opponent – Bandic or Josipovic?
- Honestly, it's all the same to me. You will follow the campaign and see that I am talking about what the other candidates are silent about, and I will win if I succeed in making what I am proposing as a solution for Croatia the topic of discussion. If I fail to make this the subject of the campaign, that will mean that I have failed to convince people that the economic crisis we find ourselves in is a moral and structural crisis. We will not get out of this crisis overnight, we need a good concept, and a strong president who can help in the economic, and that means in the overall development of our country.

NACIONAL: Do you feel today as you did in February when you said that Croatia would not get out of the crisis over the coming ten years?
- Over the coming ten years we will not live as we would like to, at the level of the developed societies of Europe, but if we make a turnaround, the results will be evident much earlier. The role of the president is crucial. The president must, which is, besides, written in the Constitution, secure the orderly functioning of the national administration, and that means that we finally need to see regular meetings at which the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament, the National Bank Governor and the presidents of the supreme and constitutional courts sit. It is not a normal thing that these people have never met at a working meeting. If I win, they will meet on a regular basis and these meetings will be a forum for initiatives towards various segments of society. Croatia does not know where it wants to go, and in my vision the President of the Republic, in basketball jargon, becomes a playmaker. That does not mean that the president should get greater authorities, but that he should use his authority to do what I am talking about. Since the president has direct authorities over the intelligence community, diplomacy and armed forces, they need to be put in the function of economic prosperity.

NACIONAL: I assume that what you are talking about would be the first things you would do?
- For a start I would initiate a meeting on basic economic topics with the Prime Minister and the governor of the National Bank, with the assistance of the Speaker of Parliament and the presidents of the supreme and constitutional courts. I want a referendum to be held at which citizens would say what kind of Croatia they want to have, which would be binding for all of us in government. At the referendum held in 1991 the citizens said they wanted an independent Croatia, and now they need to say what kind of Croatia they wish to live in.

NACIONAL: What are the real developmental capabilities of the Croatian economy?

- When you look at a map of Europe, especially in the context of the enlargement of the EU to include Turkey, Croatia holds a central position. An excellent example is the Port of Rijeka, which was not built for Primorje-Gorski kotar County, or even for Croatia, but rather for the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and that area once again has to incline towards Croatia. Croatia has a location on which there was and still is industry, it has transport infrastructure, a developed electric energy system, and these are all potentials that other countries need to create, while in Croatia they already exist. Croatia has forests on 47 percent of its territory, of which only 20 are commercially viable. It has five climatic zones and water in each of them. Unfortunately we are at the bottom rungs of Europe when it comes to the area under irrigation, and there is great potential there for progress in agriculture. Just as we demonstrated our capabilities in building roads, now we have to launch agrarian activities. If we add the existing transport infrastructure, we have massive potential in the service sector, and if we are to round it out in the area from Kapela to the Sava and Drava rivers, we will have to build a major cargo airport to bring international cargoes to Croatia. If we do not take advantage of what I am talking about we face the threat of the arrival of the International Monetary Fund, and that is no charitable organisation, but rather one obliged to collect debts, and we face the threat of being slaves to our debt in which our creditors will run our country.

NACIONAL: Are you surprised by the growing popularity of Jadranka Kosor, who came into the post of Prime Minister with no lack of scoffing, and now enjoys growing public support?
- I was the only person in a prominent position that supported Jadranka Kosor at the start of her term in office. Some friends that knew that I might enter the race for the presidency said it was not a good idea and wondered why I did so. I supported her out of principle, knowing that she is not corrupt and that we need this kind of Prime Minister. Everything I say on the campaign trail about Croatia as the Mediterranean of Central Europe, Croatia that has to define itself as an attractive partner through its remaining industrial infrastructure, existing transport potential, a completely different use of its soil, water and climate zones. It all makes not sense whatsoever if we are not able to root out crime as a system and the corruption that has become the Croatian way of life. That is why I supported Jadranka Kosor and I am happy to see that her rating is growing, in part because it is evident that I was in the right.

NACIONAL: Do you think that the current Government will survive to the end of its term?
- That I do not know, but when I become President, I will help Jadranka Kosor stick it out. But she too has to make a shift because like this she will not succeed in securing the necessary changes. She needs to involve a much wider front of those who will first engage in a debate on what kind of Croatia we want, and then get directly involved in fulfilling that goal. In this the opposition has a particular role, obligation and responsibility.NADAN VIDOSEVIC with Zlatko Kramaric and Ivo Sanader, whose dearture from government he greeted

NACIONAL: Do you hold against her the fact that she chucked you out of the HDZ?
- No. It was not she who did so, rather I was, based on the Statutes, automatically removed from the membership. In my opinion the HDZ is hostage to the solutions set by the person that left. And so Jadranka Kosor and quite a few people in the HDZ leadership feel that they are hostage to the situation, but I believe that this situation will resolve itself after the presidential elections. I wish to help the SDP in the same way, which is also passing through a sensitive period, and is irreplaceable on the Croatian political scene, as are the other parties. In these trying times Croatia needs a stable political scene, and that can only be created by responsible people, and this is a challenge to the leaderships of all political parties in Croatia, which are passing through a kind of catharsis. In the new circumstances the Croatia that lived from a distribution of wealth has to be led with a new vision. Therein lies the challenge for us all.

NACIONAL: As a former economy minister, in what measure do you feel responsible for the privatisation that was carried out in Croatia during the 1990s?
- In principle I was opposed to the way privatisation was carried out in those circumstances. We embarked upon privatisation when the ratio of capital on offer from society and the capital that was able to participate in the privatisation was one to six. But you simply could not have opposed it because the overall policy was that Croatia must immediately join the West and accept a market economy, which was in part the result of international pressure on our country. What I advocated was evident from the published transcripts of my discussions with the national leadership of the time. A serious analysis would show that the awkwardness in the privatisation of the banks, telecommunications or energy sector took place long after I had left the Government, and that means after the war.

NACIONAL: So, that means you do not feel responsible?
- I can feel responsibility as a sort of expression of politeness because I was during those wartime years for a time a government official. Unfortunately, at the time two strategic errors were made that are often disregarded. The first was the rejection of CEFTA, which had already been agreed upon then, and which was my first major political defeat, and which, unfortunately, determined the further thorny route Croatia was to take towards the EU. And the second was fixing the exchange rate of the kuna in conditions in which it was not possible, and there was a lack of will and knowledge to manage fiscal expenditure. This completely destroyed our export-oriented production economy and created a new economic structure incapable of servicing the country's foreign debt. This significantly characterised the post war period, in which the greatest evils of the privatisation process took place, of which we are witness to this day.

NACIONAL: Your wealth and the way in which you came into it are the basis of the criticism levelled against you in this presidential campaign. How damaging are the doubts of the other candidates, according to which you did not gain your wealth honourably?
- I think I have done a great service to Croatia because I am the first person to run for the presidency that has made public his assets. In a way I have broken the ice, and in the future it will be a normal thing for Croatians that someone with wealth is not necessarily a thief. I do my job, and just as I knew how to create capital for myself, I believe that I will know how to create capital for my country. And to those crying out the most I would say that they best sweep before their own doorstep first. At this point in time they are not the subjects of my interest, because I am focused on the issue of whether I can win these elections, and to then carry out what we have discussed. I am a husband and the father of three children, I am fifty years of age and in the prime of my capabilities, and I feel that this is the time when I must show that I can give my country my best. I do not want to be discussing what we should have done in twenty year's time. Today I am proud because General Cermak has called me as a witness for his defence before the Hague tribunal. Had I not participated in those events, the defeats and the victories, he most surely would not have called me.

NACIONAL: Croatians like to follow the lives of celebrities, and when you are at issue they are interested most in what it feels like to be rich?
- It is a good feeling to be able to afford yourself some things easier than other do. And I am not referring here to glamorous items, but of the products that most people have to take out ten month or one year loan for. In that respect it is a good thing to be rich, but for me creating wealth is more fulfilling than having it. It is a thankless task to speak of oneself, but I feel that I am a modest person, and I am interested in something not interesting to most. I will, for example, spend a lot of money on horticulture or hobbies like animals and diving, something most people are not at all interested in. I am intrigued by investments into the arts, but on the other hand have absolutely no interest in expensive automobiles. I am able to purchase costly cars, but for me it is noting more than a vehicle that will take me from point A to point B.

NACIONAL: What is the deepest you have dived?
- I was not a particularly good diver, but I have reached depths of 25-27 metres. Which is far from any professional achievements.

NACIONAL: Is it not an act of demagoguery to have gone diving with handicapped children? Why don't you do so, say, once every three months, and not only in the election campaign?
- You see, I am overjoyed to have been given the opportunity to be with those children. The idea came from our well-known diver Kristijan Curavic, who organised diving with blind children two years ago on the island of Losinj when, in spite of being invited, not a single journalist came. I got a call from Kristijan recently who said that the campaign was starting and a lot of journalists were sure to come this time, which is exactly what happened. I have personally on a number of occasions helped the blind and people with special needs, but the press gave it no coverage because I was not running for the presidency at the time. The feeling of diving with blind children is unparalleled and I am proud to have participated in the action. I intend to use this campaign to turn people's attention to the problems faced by people with special needs and who make up about ten percent of the Croatian population. My father died of diabetes and thanks to him I know that there are 400,000 people in Croatia suffering from the illness. It is only when, from time to time, someone points out the problem that society is made more sensible to the issues and we get more involved in them. And there are, unfortunately, many such issues, most far from the public eye.

NACIONAL: Should Croatian soldiers be pulled out of Afghanistan if the conflict there was to escalate? How would you, as president, react if five members of the Croatian Army were to die there?
BORUT PAHOR AND JADRANKA KOSOR, to whom Vidosevic has offered his support from the first day she took office - We need to do everything in our power to afford the greatest possible level of protection to every Croatian soldier. But we have to be a trusted ally in the frame of NATO and meet our obligations as a member of the United Nations because that is how Croatia earns credibility. I will be entirely forthright - it is best to defend you own freedom on someone else's territory. As the trusted partner of a great alliance like NATO we will not be left helpless if attacked, and we all know that there has been no dearth of wars in this region.

NACIONAL: How do you see the global strengthening of Russian and Chinese influence?
- I would not agree with these attitudes. What you have now said is from a European point of view and a European standard of democracy. We in Europe are well known for wishing to impose our own standards on others, even though these policies on the part of us "civilised" Europeans has over the past centuries caused a number of bloody wars with millions of victims. Russia and China are developing their own authentic political models, and especially in the case of China this authentic political model has transformed it from a country of hunger into a global superpower. China now has a seven percent rate of growth, with which the country's leadership is not satisfied, while for us it is unattainable. At the end of the 1990s Russia was deep in crisis, and has succeeded in digging itself out and is now standing on its own feet. I do not think it would be polite if I were as the future Croatian President to lecture these countries. Croatia is in Europe and belongs to the European cultural milieu and should possess a European standard of democracy but, I repeat, we need not lecture others.

NACIONAL: With what countries will you advocate strategic partnership?
- Above all with the United States of America. The USA is our strategic partner and has helped us in every important situation. We should never forget the US role in the preparations for Operation Storm, the peaceful reintegration of eastern Slavonia or stopping the Croatian-Bosniac conflict. The US has been a trustworthy partner, and that is why we must do the same in return, it is besides our obligation in the frame of NATO. There is a natural alliance with the countries of the European Union we will soon accede to ourselves. Cooperation with the Russian Federation is important as, regarded on the long term, a permanent source of energy for Croatia, and with China and India, the economies with the greatest global growth potential, and there are the countries of central Asia and the members of the Non-Aligned Movement. Croatia today truly has no enemies in the world, and that is our great advantage. The final challenge is partnership in the region for future joint activity in the frame of the European Union.

NACIONAL: Should a list of Croatian veterans be published?
- I have spoken with veterans' associations and they are for the most part in favour of making it public. I told them that as a fellow soldier and as the future Supreme Commander, I felt that they should establish a single veterans' association through which they would protect their rights and promote the values they fought for, together with the other association of war victims. Thus united they need to take a decision on the publication of the list. This is not something the state bureaucracy should do.

NACIONAL: You mention being a volunteer. In which battles did you participate?
- At the time the unit I was the first commander of, the DC independent company of the 114th brigade, took part in smaller skirmishes, capturing the Brizine fuel dump, defence operations during attacks on Split airport, guarding vital facilities such as the largest explosives storehouse and, which was then exceedingly important, manufacturing for the defence effort. It was all the start of what came later.