Lack of Government Leaves Croatia Eyeing Crisis

The inability of Croatia's competing coalitions to establish a mandate to form a new government after parliamentary elections in November finished without a clear winner could cause serious problems for the country if it drags on, experts told BIRN.

A series of meetings between the centre-left coalition that formed the country's previous government, opposition centre-right coalition and kingmaker party the Bridge of the Independent Lists, MOST, have so far failed to yield results.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic on Monday started a second round of consultations on giving a mandate to form a government, but these are also likely to end without results, since no bloc has the support of at least 76 out of 151 MPs in total.

The Croatian parliament held its first session last Thursday, but it quickly ended because it was unable to elect the chair of parliament.

If parliament does not start sitting and a government is not formed by March 2016, the country could encounter financial problems because a new budget will not have been approved. According to the law, a budget can only continue to function for three months into a new financial year.

Economics expert Sandra Svaljek said that although state incomes would prop up the country's finances for a while, problems would occur because "budget users during a period of temporary financing can't assume new [financial] obligations".

"This means that public services... wouldn't be able to supply fuel, electricity, telecommunications services and so on. Without [a budget], most budget users can't perform any basic regular activities," she said.

The Croatian constitutional court could also be paralysed because parliament cannot name new judges.

The constitutional court,...