German and Austrian media on the fall of the Croatian government

German and Austrian media covered the vote of no confidence in Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković on Friday, concluding that the event has pushed the country into an even deeper crisis, and largely blame the ruling HDZ for the government crisis, writes Nacional, reports NAP.

- The epicenter of the permanent earthquake in Croatian politics is still the HDZ party, which describes itself as "national-conservative". The disproportion between unpopularity among the people and the desire for power has long been a characteristic of HDZ that repeatedly causes political earthquakes, according to an article in the daily Frankfurter Rundschau, which covered the vote of no confidence in Tihomir Orešković.

The article accuses HDZ leader Tomislav Karamarko of making the prime minister's life difficult from the very beginning, including by appointing a "right-wing extremist" as Minister of Culture.

Frankfurter Rundschau accuses Tomislav Karamarko of having revived HDZ after many party leaders ended up in prison by spreading hatred towards minorities, especially Serbs.

- He (Karamarko) has polarized the nation to such an extent that the moderate center of society has practically disappeared, and HDZ has lost a potential coalition partner from the civic bloc, the article concludes.

The supra-regional daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung is even harsher in its analysis of the political events in Croatia, reports Nacional.

- What remains now is a party leader accused of corruption, a newly formed party that has not fulfilled its promises, a pharmaceutical manager who has just completed his brief tenure as prime minister, and a country that has been led for six months by politicians who were more concerned with themselves than with implementing important political reforms. The government, which emerged after a two-month tug-of-war as a government of renewal, will go down in history as a government of chaos, according to an article titled "How the Croatian Government Ate Itself".

SZ notes that regardless of the outcome of new elections, if they occur, the situation in the country will remain difficult.

- The country is divided. In its short time in power, HDZ has steered the country to the right. The nationalist tones were louder than the open disputes in the government in recent months, according to an article that also highlights the inglorious role of Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegović, who, due to his revisionist views and downplaying of the crimes of the Ustaše regime, has become a "symbol of the nationalist policy of the new government", the article concludes, also emphasizing the increased pressure on media and intellectuals who deviate from the minister's line.

In an analysis carried by many Austrian media outlets, the Austrian news agency APA concludes that Croatia, 25 years after its exit from Yugoslavia, which the author of the article calls "YUxit", is in a deep political crisis and "on the verge of bankruptcy".

- The country's future is very uncertain. The country is deeply divided, and the roots of this division go back to World War II, APA quotes Zijad Bećirović, director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana. He compared Croatia to Slovenia, which after joining the EU and NATO turned into a "country without its own strategic goals".

The daily Wiener Zeitung writes similarly, seeing Croatia as "dangerously close to bankruptcy".

- Internal conflicts and attempts at political self-profiling by individuals in recent months have distracted from Croatia's real problems. The pompously announced reforms have been sidelined, bringing the youngest member of the European Union even closer to bankruptcy, the daily Wiener Zeitung states, seeing no prospects for change in the future either.

- According to the latest data, state debt has reached 90% of the country's economic output, and the coming years do not bode well either – in 2017, many debts are due for payment in Croatia, which could push Croatia into a similar economic situation as Greece, the newspaper concludes, reports Nacional.