Valet i Kroatien 2011

"Imagine for a minute that memorial masses were held in two major cities in Germany on the anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler. Needless to say, such a ceremony would arouse fury, indignation, and widespread protests not only in Germany, but throughout the entire world. Last week, the local equivalent of such an event took place in Croatia, but instead of anger and demonstrations, not a single word of protest was heard from anywhere in the country.

I am referring to the December 28 memorial masses conducted in Zagreb and Split (and perhaps elsewhere as well) to mark the 51st anniversary of the death of Ante Pavelić, the head of state of the infamous Independent State of Croatia, created by the Nazis and their Italian allies in 1941. Following its establishment, rule was turned over to the local fascist movement, the Ustasha, headed by its Poglavnik (leader) Ante Pavelić.---

THE MEMORIAL masses to honor Pavelić, who died in Spain in 1959 from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt two years earlier, mark a renewal of a tradition which began in the 1990s following the reestablishment of Croatian independence. In the wake of the conviction in Zagreb of Jasenovac commandant Dinko Sakic and in response to protests by the Wiesenthal Center, the mass was stopped and the priest responsible, Vjekoslav Lasic, left Croatia.

Unfortunately, however, Lasic returned to Zagreb a few years ago and renewed his neo-fascist activity with impunity. At the funeral of Sakic, who insisted on being buried in his Ustasha uniform although in prison for his World War II crimes, it was Lasic who administered final rites. According to the Dominican priest, although Dinko Sakic did not observe all the Ten Commandments (Thou shalt not murder?), he was a model for all Croatians, and every Croat should be proud of his name.

The question now is, how does such an event to honor the memory of one of the biggest mass murderers of World War II pass with nary a word of protest or condemnation? The obvious address for such indignation would be in Croatia itself, where many people fought with Tito’s partisans against the Ustasha, and a significant sector of the population have a strong anti-fascist tradition. But the same question applies outside the country as well.

Croatia is well on its way to membership in the European Union (slated for 2013), a membership which is ostensibly contingent on the acceptance of EU values and norms. Is a memorial mass for one of Europe’s worst war criminals compatible with EU membership?

The sad truth is that in this respect, the European Union has failed miserably in dealing with the resurgence of neo-fascism and the promotion of Holocaust distortion in its post-Communist members. Once admitted to the EU (and NATO), countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and Romania have begun to take active steps to rewrite their World War II histories, minimizing or attempting to hide the highly-significant role played by their nationals in Holocaust crimes, with barely a word of protest or condemnation from Brussels.---"

An exit poll for Croatian state television showed the conservative opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) tied in a parliamentary election on Sunday.

The exit poll showed both parties winning 56 seats in the 151-seat parliament.

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party said it was confident of its victory in Sunday's parliamentary election, stressing that the results of exit polls were "not even close to the actual results".

"The turnout of our voters was very good and I am confident that our final score will be much better than the exit polls. The best polls for us are what the voters say and we will see that very soon when results start coming in," the HDZ's political secretary, Tomislav Culjak, told Hina in a comment on the results of exit polls announced after the closing of polling stations at 7pm

Conspiracy theories about the stolen elections of 2015 are even now regularly featured on right-wing fringe websites, with claims that SDP and then Prime Minister Zoran Milanović somehow prevented HDZ from achieving convincing victory at the elections.

Välmenande idealister som inte kommer att lyckas. Så beskriver kroater Most - landets tredje största parti och vågmästarna i parlamentet. Det senaste året har de gjort sitt yttersta för att pressa övriga partier till politiska och ekonomiska reformer. Hittills har det mest bestående resultatet varit en fälld regering och ett nyval.

Men det har börjat ryktas att HDZ och SDP kommer att göra vad de kan för att slippa Most, till och med bilda en gemensam regering över blockgränserna. Bozo Petrov säger bitskt att det är en “fullt realistisk lösning”.

– De är två exakt likadana partier som snabbt glömmer de få skillnader de har när det gäller att rädda sina egna platser, så ja, jag kan se det hända, men det skulle vara dåligt för Kroatien. I så fall går vi i opposition och kämpar för det kroatiska folket.