President Ivo Josipovic said on Wednesday that one of the key issues and challenges of the next government would be how to ensure social balance in a difficult economic situation, which he said called for reorganisation, new measures, motivated enterprises, and investments.
That is a matter of politics, art and agreement as well as equity in the application of measures, and one should also not forget socially responsible business, he said at a conference on Croatia's economic policy in 2012, held in the northern Adriatic resort of Opatija.
Josipovic was hopeful that Croatia's economy would come out of the crisis next year and that Croatia would have the strength to look forward, to see itself in 2020 and how to develop society by then.
He said one should define the basis of Croatia's economic policy in the future and that those in power, regardless of some poor indicators, had the important task to spread optimism.
Josipovic said Croatia was often late in adopting anti-recession measures and that it needed a long term economic development strategy.
"Unless we look into the next decade, we can perhaps get the impression that we are making short term plans, that we don't know where we are going in the future complicated world, in Europe and globally," said Josopovic.
He went on to say that since the Croatian economy did not have many investments now, it should also turn to domestic sources of financing.
He said the expectations that the market alone would solve the problems of the domestic economy had not come true, raising the question about an alternative and that it was state intervention.
"The state intervened strongly where it shouldn't have, where the regulations and terms for business people are complicated," Josipovic said, adding that state intervention would play its real part in regulating social relations.
He went on to say that structural reforms could not be made for each year but planned for the long term, that the fiscal policy must ensure sustainable public finance, and that the focus now should be on attracting foreign investment and encouraging entrepreneurs.
Josipovic was speaking at the beginning of the 19th three-day conference in Opatija, which was organised by the Croatian Economists' Association and drew several hundred economists, business people, and representatives of state bodies and institutions, including ministers, as well as political parties.
