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 The 32-year-old has a small accountancy firm in Zagreb with clients
in businesses from tourism to construction. Recently, he gave up on
his plan to invest in a small hotel on the coast because the process
was so lengthy, costly and uncertain.
"Now I'm planning to move to Germany, where my sister lives, and
start something in the catering industry as I doubt things will
change here any time soon," he said.
"We have two separate worlds in our economy. There are companies
that deal with the state and mostly have no problems in keeping
business afloat. Others struggle on the free market, burdened by
unpaid bills, poor law enforcement, high taxation and a lack of
capital to invest," Rescek said.
The months-old center-right government has vowed - in line with EU
recommendations - to cut red tape, scrap various fees, and reduce
public debt by cost-cutting at state-owned firms as well as
reforming the health and pension sectors.
But critics, including the national employers' association, HUP, say
the main worry is implementation. Successive Croatian governments
failing put promised reforms into action.
"The EU's recommendations are in line with what we have been saying
all the time and we welcome the plan for reforms, but we can see
that implementation will be challenging," HUP's director Davor
Majetic said.
Such scepticism is widespread in Croatia, where unemployment is 17.2
percent.
Almost 50,000 out of just over 4 million people left between 2012
and 2014 as EU membership in 2013 made it easier for Croats to work
elsewhere in Europe, and six years of recession, ending in 2014,
cost about 13 percent of economic output.
Last year the economy grew 1.6 percent, but without reforms to
attract investment and boost growth, high unemployment and fiscal
problems will not be reversed.
Many Croats doubt political leaders will change the business
environment quickly enough to make a difference.
"The fact that people are leaving or planning to leave is a direct
reflection of dissatisfaction with the failure of the government to
drive the economy forward," political analyst, Davor Gjenero, said.
Examples of the problems abound.
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Ivan Kusalic from Razvoj Golf, a company developing an Israeli-U.S. golf resort
near Dubrovnik, has been trying to begin work on the 6.5-billion-kuna
($970-million) project for ten years.
"There are many cases, like ours, where investors have been for years struggling
with red tape, frequent changes of regulations and legal uncertainty," he said.
He is hoping all the necessary permits would be in place for the first phase of
construction in October this year.
Despite President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic urging the government to enact
reforms as soon as possible as "buses of young people are leaving the country
daily", ministers are already arguing over aspects of the package. Public sector
trade unions have also indicated their resistance.
With only a thin parliamentary majority, the government is wary of forcing
through painful changes as it tries to hold together the coalition between the
conservative HDZ party and its small reformist coalition partner Most (Bridge).
"For an economic reorganization, many laws will have to be changed and we've yet
to see how homogeneous the ruling coalition can be. I'm afraid we will
eventually see watered-down reforms," economic analyst, Damir Novotny, said.
Rescek agrees. "For substantial changes, for Croatia to become really
business-friendly, we will need at least 10 years. I have no time to wait, like
my cousin involved in parquet flooring who has recently left for Canada."
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
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