It appears that Andrej Plenković is starting to favour the option of leading HDZ into the forthcoming early parliamentary election without any coalition partners. Naturally, he has yet to be elected as HDZ’s new leader – but that is just a few days away. Andrej Plenković could be the brave political entrepreneur that devastated Croatia is waiting for.

Should Andrej Plenković decide to face the voters alone it could mean that HDZ would later have more than one choice. As Croatia’s biggest political party HDZ has the right to be confident of winning the election and forming the government independently. However, if HDZ doesn’t get a comfortable majority Plenković can always choose partners as per the results they achieve. That would most certainly be a brave move that only political entrepreneurs could make.

In the meantime, Andrej Plenković is confidently presenting his political visions and plans for the future HDZ government. He is showing determination similar to that of Croatia’s first national leader Dr. Franjo Tuđman – something that now appears to be confusing to his direct opponent. Very indicative is the short but powerful statement made by Plenković’s counterpart Zoran Milanović who now says that “the other side has evidently become just a rightwing option”. Evidently, Milanović is starting to worry.

One thing is for certain – HDZ will be conducting a major internal reform, and we will most likely see new professional faces prepared to confront economic, demographic and social issues in line with proven western coservative standards. I tend to believe that the changes and reforms will not be done just for the forthcoming early election – they will be aimed at some future and more permanent target. Does that mean that Andrej Plenković could even consider going into opposition if HDZ alone would not get the number of votes required for a comfortable majority?