Zagreb - 'I slept well, how about you,' Croatian Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader asked reporters Thursday, a day after he dropped
a bomb on his nation by announcing that he was resigning and then
refusing to explain why.
Newspapers offered a host of theories on the 56-year-old's
unexpected withdrawal from government, with two years to go until the
next elections.
Sanader made the announcement at a hastily assembled press
conference on Wednesday. His departure caught most by surprise. It
comes as cash strapped and debt-ridden Croatia heads for hard times.
'I decided that I have done my share. It is time for others,'
Sanader said. 'Croatia is now the leader in this part of Europe, with
all conditions for development and growth.'
He insisted he was in good health and ruled out plans for a role
in European politics or entering Croatia's presidential race next
year.
'If he isn't ill and has no really good reason, then he's either a
coward, or he has some trump card up his sleeve,' the 24Casa daily
said.
Among the 'good reasons' in the media arsenal ranged from the
issue of his daughter's health, the possibility of a no-confidence
vote orchestrated by hardline conservatives in his Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) to talks on accession to the European Union
that have stalled.
Media reports also suggested there was a possibility that some or
another scandal was about to erupt.
Sanader's political foes from both the opposition and his own
party have described his resignation as a sly and cowardly manoeuvre
as the economy looks set to collapse.
He will step back as the accelerating recession, unsustainable
spending and huge foreign debt spark an economic meltdown, predicted
for the coming autumn, then return as a savior, the theory goes.
'Economists: We're in the pits,' said the headline in the
Jutarnji List daily.
'The economic crisis is culminating, we're late with necessary
measures and now there's nobody to implement them quickly enough, nor
have we anybody to talk to about them,' Jutarnji quoted the head of
the employers union Damir Kustak as saying.
The newspaper even interviewed a body-language expert who said
Sanader did not come across during Wednesday's press conference as
someone really planning to step back.
Jutarnji also pointed out that the far-right wing in the HDZ -
which Sanader sidelined when he took over following the nationalist
president Franjo Tudjman's death in 2000 - was getting ready to
strike at the party congress on Saturday.
In any case, the timing for political games is bad for Croatia,
which owes 55 billion dollars, or 92 per cent of its gross domestic
product while facing a severe economic downturn.
'In this situation, Croatia did not need a government crisis,'
President Stjepan Mesic said.
Mesic did not immediately designate deputy premier Jadranka Kosor,
Sanader's chosen successor.
With a 30-day deadline for the new cabinet now ticking away, Mesic
is to first discuss Kosor with parliamentary factions and verify
whether she has enough support.
USA
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