THE NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT feels that his role is also a political one, not just ceremonial, and that is why he will take an active role in the concrete creation of national policy; he will be assisted in this by young aides, and he wishes to strengthen the role of his future Chief of Staff The election of Ivo Josipovic to the post of President could lead to significant changes in Croatia's political makeup. During the election campaign Josipovic indicated that he had no intention of being a ficus plant, and the preparations and the work on his future team going on at his headquarters confirm that the newly elected President will by no means make his term in office a perfunctory one. He has decided to take a hands-on approach across a broad range of issues, from the economy and the war on corruption, to foreign policy and promoting the country's culture, and after having defined a strategy, he has now turned his full attention to creating the team that will be working in his office. Who the 40-year-olds that will implement and create the policies of the new President will be shall be known soon, but it is already clear that they will be young people of the new generation.

"The President of the Republic is a political figure, and not just a figurehead representing Croatia. That is why I will take an active role in things from the start of my term as President and participate in creating national policy, to which end I shall gather a team of young, dynamic and professionally proven aides. Together we will tackle the most important problems this country faces, for which, besides, I have the Constitutional right," Josipovic told Nacional Sunday morning, discussing the priorities he intends to dedicate his efforts to, and the people who will help him in this mission.

The President-elect intends to create a strong Presidential Office and to staff it, for the most part, with 40-year-olds that have professional affirmation. Josipovic feels that the time has come in Croatian politics for a new generation of educated and dynamic people, who will work from the President's Office to influence social processes over the coming five years. They will, it is understood, work on the basis of Josipovic's strategy, and Nacional has learned these days what the primary points it is based on are.

Josipovic intends to take a strong role in four key areas - the war on crime and corruption, the economy, culture and foreign policy. The fifth area he plans to work on is the issue of war veterans, especially those segments of the veteran population that are unemployed or suffer from various psychological and physical ailments. And while the selection of the staff for the future President's Office has not been completed, it is very likely that Orsat Miljanic, a lawyer and a former head of Government's office for relations with the Hague tribunal, former Police General Director Vladimir Faber and the spokesperson of the Josipovic presidential campaign, Danica Juricic-Spasovic, will be among his closest aides, while Marko Rakar, the owner of the www.pollitika.com portal will also play a key role. After his inauguration, Josipovic intends to continue communicating with his supporters via the Internet as he is convinced that the Web is used far too little in Croatian politics.

Josipovic wants to empower the role of the future Chief of Staff, since the people at the post during President Stipe Mesic's term in office were seen as letter openers. The role of the Chief of Staff will in the future be a much stronger one, and the person at the post will have a significant role in implementing the President's ideas, but in collaboration with parties, non-governmental organisations and foreign partners. That is why Josipovic will appoint a person that has over the past fifteen years achieved a noteworthy career in the diplomacy.
But the President's first goal will be the war on corruption, which was the chief message of his victorious election campaign. Josipovic is decisive in his intention to, within the first few months of his presidency, establish firm cooperation with Government and offer help in the anti-corruption activities that are remain to be opened.

In other words, although elected on the SDP ballot and being of the political left-of-centre, Josipovic will back the current Government's policies and maintain distance in the political quarrels between Zoran Milanovic and Jadranka Kosor. There are several reasons for this strategy. If he were to take sides at the start of his term in office, he would polarise the public into supporters and opponents, which is the last thing he wants. He is very proud of the fact that he has won the support of 1.3 million citizens, which means that he received the support of voters who are not of the political left-of-centre, and in the coming period he wishes to broaden this support base, and will politically empower initiatives coming from the President's Office. That is why he supported the re-appointment of Mladen Bajic, and has spoken positively off the record about the way the Prime Minister is leading Government.

The second area in which Josipovic will take an active role is in the economy and in finding a way out of the crisis. Consultations on the makeup of a future Economic Council have been underway for the past ten days and the President-elect has already spoken to well-known business sector figures, economists and union members, and they have all confirmed their desire to enter the Economic Council. Josipovic's models are the advisory boards and think tanks active in the USA, where economic strategies are created and sent as proposals to institutions.

MARKO RAKAR, the owner of the www.pollitika.com Internet portal Josipovic is convinced that the President, even with his current authorities, has the possibility of contributing to a way out of the recession and creating jobs. Economic policy has the potential to become the central point of a separation for the President and the current Government.
Because however much he will maintain a distance in the clashes between the governing coalition and the opposition, Josipovic does feel that Jadranka Kosor has yet to face the real challenge - which is bringing order to the situation in the economy. The Prime Minister can expect a period in which the President-elect will not criticise Government's economic policy, but it will not be an overly long one. Josipovic expects Government to start listening to the counsel coming out of the Economic Council, and to prove his impartiality he will also work with business people and experts that are not close to the political left. He also wants to prove his leftist orientation by his advocacy of the rights of the employed, who he feels are often abused, even though the legislation is basically good.

Culture is the third area in which President-elect Josipovic intends to seek affirmation for Croatia. "If America and China led a ping-pong diplomacy, then I will lead a cultural diplomacy," he told Nacional, adding that he would set up a Culture Council based on the model of the Economic Council. Josipovic is a composer and a musician, and in the political sense believes that it will be culture projects in fact that will preserve the Croatian identity in a globalized world. Off the record, he cites the neglect of civil political culture as a big problem in Croatia and will direct a part of his efforts to developing a civilised dialogue between those in power and the opposition. An invitation to people of different points of view to various presidential councils is his contribution to an attempt to end ideological conflict.

Foreign policy is the fourth point of Ivo Josipovic's agenda. He feels that there are two priorities in this area - the EU and the countries of the region. It is to be expected that Brussels, Belgrade and Sarajevo will be in the focus of his activity. Brussels is the seat of the EU and the President-elect has no doubt that it is the central goal of Croatian foreign policy, while the normalisation of relations with Belgrade, as Croatia and Serbia are realistically the most powerful successor states to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is important in both the political and the economic sense.

Which is why he did not want to get drawn into the recent quarrel between Boris Tadic and Stipe Mesic, and why he will continue to avoid arguments, especially if they are based on debating events from history. Sarajevo and Bosnia & Herzegovina are also among the top foreign policy interests and Josipovic wants good relations. In this regard, the current Croatian policy will not change in content, but will change in style, and a milder rhetoric is to be expected than Mesic's.

Former Police General Director Vladimir Faber will join Josipovic in the President's Office The only open question is whether Josipovic will seek stronger ties with America than did his predecessor. It appears for the moment that he will not, even though Washington played the key role in Croatian accession to NATO and in breaking the Slovenian blockade. Josipovic is by no means inclined to distancing himself from the USA, but it appears that he is for now inclined towards those Croatian politicians who feel that good relations with the EU are most important.

That is why it comes as no surprise that his first international meeting will be with a colleague from a friendly Central Europe country. It would be a mistake if the President's Office were to continue the previous foreign policy where there were reservations towards American initiatives, while at the same time unproductive friendships with autocratic states such as Libya and Cuba were nurtured. Who Josipovic's advisors will be shall prove very important in this regard.