Kosor and Pahor full of love without any benefit

The day after Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor were strengthening Croatian-Slovenian relations in Kranjska Gora beside burning fireplace while drinking hot tea, a taxi driver asked me while driving through Zagreb: "Are they really in love?" I replied that I didn't know and that I didn't care, but admit it, so many meetings between leaders of both countries - who both publicly declare of each other that they are friends - this is already a comedy. Particularly because no benefit from their friendship is seen other than they possibly enrich their geographic knowledge and get familiar with places that perhaps they never before did. You know that Jadranka Kosor is not familiar with Slovenian mountains, but despite that Pahor kindly keeps showing them to her. On the other hand, Pahor doesn't know Croatian coast very well, so Kosor offered to show him the beauty of Adriatic Sea, ah this damn apple of dispute between Croatia and Slovenia. Isn't it so? Is there anything else? Of course, world has not yet recovered from recession that is not fully over, and many experts predict that recovery would be even more difficult.

Thus Pahor and Kosor appear and try to keep their mandate in hard times of recession with as much media pomp about things that really don’t matter. Exactly with these words their friendship can be best described: marketing strategy of how to hide really big problems harassing both countries from more and more enraged hosts of unemployed people - in short: sand in eyes. What exactly Pahor and Kosor actually talk about we will never find out. We only get to know that every time they want to resolve outstanding issues that exist among countries for almost two decades. Precisely with meeting in Kranjska Gora, they drew a masterstroke in respect of economic cooperation because the fact is that I cannot say that import and export are flourishing between the two countries. Not only in exchange of tourist services that have fallen by few percents, but also of rest of economy, which last year, again due to crisis, affected especially input-output investment. Croatian National Bank’s data thus show that Slovenian investors directed within first nine months of previous year EUR 95.6 mio of investments into Croatia, and Slovenian investments in Croatia since 1993 amounted to 4.4 percent of all foreign investments in the country. Croatian foreign investments are a little different: while the volume of Croatian investments in Slovenia amounted to EUR 2.2 mio in 2008, in last year's nine months an outflow of EUR 6.2 mio was recorded. During that period, Slovenian investments in Croatia among all foreign investments took sixth place, and among countries into which Croatia directed most outbound investments, Slovenia occupied twelfth place. In respect of trade exchange, according to Croatian statistics for first eleven months of last year, Slovenia was a third partner; fourth on the export and third on the import side - as a rule, forefront occupy Italy and Germany. Slovenian statistics show that exports of goods to Croatia fell by 26.9 percent and imports by 27 percent; within this framework, especially trends in exchange of food products are interesting. According to data for first half of last year, Slovenia indicates a deficit of EUR 22.3 mio in trade exchange with Croatia.

In short, what should resolving of black economic situation be like, if Pahor's and Kosor's brains would be brought to use? Such, that Croatian-Slovenian mixed committee for economy – it was founded in 2005, but it hardly ever operated - would now continue to work. OK, but what would it do? I wouldn’t want to prejudge something that already seems like prejudice to many people, but the truth is that bureaucracy has never ever brought general welfare, has it? And what exactly would mixed committee do? Resolve outstanding issues on exit to open sea and nuclear power station Krško? Probably not, this is what legal experts discuss about, respectively arbitrators shall give final decision upon this. But then, what will the committee do? Set diagnosis of problems? Do, what for last twenty years all Croatian and Slovenian governments did and it didn’t get them anywhere? As long as no one proofs to the contrary, the alleged committee is just another total nonsense, another additional bureaucracy; much as the pointless and even harmful nationalist slogans "Buy Croatian" or "Buy Slovenian" or "Buy local." In addition: Pahor recently invited foreign economic and financial investors to invest in Slovenia. In doing so, again he gained a salvo of derision because on occasion of courteous invitation he forgot to say that Slovenia is one of the countries with the highest taxes in the world, and that - not only foreigners but also local people - people with assets - literally run away from it instead of entering it. And foreigners, also Croats, should be pleased to enter such state? I believe that you Croats will not be so stupid although your situation is in similar collapse as Slovenian one. Especially with 3-percent tax on all monthly incomes that exceed EUR 410,00, which in order to relieve crisis the government introduced already last year, it is probably already clear to you what kind of knavish country you live in. In no less knavish than Slovenia. We both pay high taxes also so that our prime ministers can afford trips and flirts. Pathetic.