The Croatian Option "Saves" Vukovar

Aim Zagreb, November 5, 2000

A somewhat theatrical arrival of the entire Croatian Government, headed by Ivica Racan, to Vukovar last May - which was meant to underline the great concern of the new election winners for this town, which they would take much better care of than HDZ did - only recently produced first concrete results. After much trouble, the Government managed to sell its aircraft - Challenger 601 - for something over USD 15 million. After the deduction of one million dollars spent on the general overhaul of the plane bought several years ago, this amount should be used for the reconstruction of Vukovar.

Perhaps the reconstruction will finally start, although USD 15 million is just a drop in the ocean for the Vukovar ruins. Namely, not a single major housing facility has been reconstructed this year in Vukovar although the list includes some 3,808 flats the rebuilding of which would cost 571 million kunas or USD 65 million. In other words, just for the rehabilitation of the housing fund, the Croatian Government should sell another three aircraft, which it naturally doesn't have.

However, the second part of the promise which Prime Minister Racan and his Ministers "waved" with during their May visit to Vukovar - the law on the reconstruction of this town - should be submitted to Parliament only now. The law was scheduled to enter into parliamentary procedure at the first autumn session, but since the Croatian politics is never devoid of absurd, it was taken off the agenda - as one delegate mover of the law on Vukovar discreetly said - because of numerous centres established with the purpose of "defending the dignity of the Patriotic War". Then the Parliament devoted its discussions to this issue which ended with the well-known Declaration on the Patriotic War. This example shows best how the form gets priority over the contents. Had Parliament devoted itself with so much zeal and passion to the elaboration of a high quality law on the reconstruction of Vukovar, that would have been a much greater contribution to the "defence of the dignity of the Patriotic War" than all empty phrases and compromise-seeking declarations.

In just a few days, on November 18, Vukovar will mark the ninth anniversary of its fall, the date that until January 15, 1998 when the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube River Valley (Podunavlje)was concluded, was celebrated as the liberation day. However, during those nine years ever since months-long destruction of Vukovar stopped, very little was done for its reconstruction. Until late 1997, for the Krajina authorities there was practically no reconstruction - only the rubble was cleared so as not to obstruct the traffic in town. When, during a break in the negotiations which were concluded with the signing of the Dayton Accords the act on the peaceful reintegration of Podunavlje was initialled, it became clear to even the most persistent advocates of "the Serbian Krajina" that this region would once again become a part of Croatia.

Naturally, until then no one cared about the reconstruction, and there were no other investments except for those made in the hospital, hotel and Orthodox church. Apart from much pomp and honeymouthed statements of the Croatian authorities, after their return to Podunavlje on January 15, how they would "gild this town with gold", the reconstruction of Vukovar proceeded exceptionally slowly. The policy of Tudjman's authorities was to create a situation in which "the worse, the better" applied, so that as many Serbs as possible would move out of those parts. They were rather successful in this, and the picture of Vukovar today is the price paid for that policy. The town is barely vegetating, the unemployment is enormous even for the Croatian circumstances, where the rate of job-seekers exceeds 20 percent. There were no investments in the economy, because unemployment was a good reasons for abandoning these parts. As it could be seen from the short-hand notes of his talks - Tudjman even intended to settle Croats from Bosnia in Vukovar, in case Croats from Vukovar refused to return because of hard living conditions and lack of any prospects.

It seems that the new authorities also do not know what to do with Vukovar. The electoral unit whose core was the Vukovar-Srijem District, was the single one in which HDZ scored its only victory at the January elections. That's perhaps why Racan is in no hurry to start the reconstruction, at least not as long as the authorities established during Tudjman's rule are still in power at the district level. HDZ is still in power at the local - district level so that it is quite obvious that this party would take credit for any rogress made with the reconstruction. However, it should not come as a surprise if already next spring this party, "camouflaged" in the "Croatian option" wins at the local elections. This is the so called "Croatian bloc", seemingly a heterogeneous group of five parties which have coordinated their activities in the preparation for the local spring elections under the slogan "The Croatian option or no life in Vukovar".

With HDZ as its axis, the "Croatian option" includes Budisa's Liberals (HSLS); Democratic Centre of the HDZ's renegade Mate Granic; the Croatian Popular Party of Tomislav Mercep and, naturally - Djapic's HSP. They say that they "were brought together by the real danger that at the coming local elections a representative of Vojislav Stanimirovic's independent Democratic Serbian Party (SDSS) might be elected Mayor".

"If the Mayor of Vukovar comes from SDSS ranks I think that then all victims of the Patriotic War will have been in vain. If the Croatian option loses the elections, then Croatia will no longer have Vukovar because it will be populated by Serbs from Sid, Palanka", explained the first man of the Vukovar HDZ, Petar Mlinaric, the emergence of the "Croatian option". One from the pleiad of Budisa's Liberals, the local HSLS leader, Tomislav Berendi, who doesn't shrink from forming a coalition with HSP and Tomislav Mercep's party, says that "there can be no life in Vukovar if the "Croatian option" loses the elections confirming the words of one of the local HDZ leaders: "We must not allow someone who did not deserve it to decide on the future of our children. We must do everything in our power to secure the victory of the "Croatian option" at the local elections and later on we shall agree among ourselves who will hold office".

The SDP has distanced itself from the "Croatian option" from Vukovar rejecting any possibility of SDSS coming to power in Vukovar because the "citizens of Vukovar of Serbian nationality are aware that they cannot live and build their future in ghettoised Vukovar". However, last week's local elections in Petrinja, where HSP won the same number of delegate places as SDP and the Croatian Popular Party together (according to some studies this is currently the second strongest party in Croatia), have shown that the strength of the Right in these regions devastated by the war, should not be underestimated. Djapic's boasting of his party being dominant in these parts should not be easily discarded, so that SDP and some of its coalition partners who did not join the "Croatian option" in Vukovar, might be easily surprised by the results of spring local elections in Vukovar.

What will happen to the town and the district if the "Croatian option" wins with its theses which are very similar to the contents of an anonymous leaflet which has been circling Podunavlje for the last couple of weeks. This leaflet invites Croats to boycott and ignore their fellow citizens wherever possible. This leaflet, somewhat more sophisticated version of previous leaflets against "Chetniks and Greater-Serbs", calls to strict boycotting of everything in Vukovar with a Serbian sign - people, their shops, restaurants, customs, places they frequent.

This unfortunate town on the margins of Croatia, not only geographically speaking, but it was once said - in every other respect - will obviously not find its happiness even with the sale of all Croatian aircraft. Problems are here much more basic than can be seen from any aeroplane, including the Challenger which the Government sold in order to help the devastated Vukovar.

Drago Hedl

(AIM)