THE HDZ'S new pre-election promise of the state launching an online booking portal, while planning to take a commission of five percent, has been fiercely criticized by entrepreneurs and economists, who say it is just another step towards strengthening the state's role in the economy instead of reducing it.

"This program is even more leftist than the program offered by the Restart Coalition as it envisions an even greater role of the country in the economy. The program offered by the HDZ is an open call for even greater state involvement in the economy. The only problem is that it is being done with other people's money," warns Index's financial expert and consultant Andrej Grubisic.

Opening a Pandora's box

Grubisic is a supporter of the least possible interference of the state in the economy. In fact, as he often points out, the strong role that the state has in the Croatian economy is one of the reasons why Croatia is lagging behind other countries, as well as why corruption is widespread. He has a similar opinion on the HDZ's program idea of launching a state online booking platform.

"These are populist ideas equivalent to the opening of a Pandora's box. What if someone proposes to open state stores in the future? Such ideas are not in line with those regarding the reduction of the state role in the economy," Grubisic said.

Maruska Vizek from the Zagreb Institute of Economics is also not thrilled about the idea of launching a state online booking. Such a platform, she says, cannot actually compete with the platforms of digital giants that are used by most foreign tourists.

"Your average foreign tourist finds accommodation using two or three digital platforms. Where is the logic in the state launching some kind of domestic digital accommodation platform, and how would it even compete with the world's digital giants?" wonders Vizek.

Hrvoje Bujas: Will we go back to collective and state farms (kolkhozes and sovkhozes)?

"I wonder what their next idea will be: starting a state-owned transportation company or maybe a state-owned chocolate and candy company? Or going back to the time of collective and state farms (kolkhozes and sovkhozes)?!" Hrvoje Bujas, the co-founder of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association, says ironically.

He finds the HDZ's pre-election promise of a state online booking portal to be an example of unfair state competition to similar internet platforms and travel agencies.

"The Croatian National Tourist Board collects an obligatory membership fee from companies, and now I guess that money may be used to launch a portal that would constitute unfair competition to those same companies that pay membership fees! However, this portal would not be able to compete with either Booking or Airbnb. Starting such a portal would be expensive, while the effects would be virtually non-existent," Bujas explains for Index.

He adds that he is surprised the HDZ reached out to voters with such ideas. He considers such ideas to be a mixture of populism and socialism, which, as he points out, has nothing to do with the modern capitalism we should strive for.

From crony-capitalism to etatist capitalism

"We traded crony-capitalism for etatist capitalism. Instead of offering to cut red tape in order to make things easier for entrepreneurs, they are offering the launching of a state booking platform paid for by millions of taxpayers, which will compete with the existing well-established market dependent platforms. That seems absurd to me," Bujas says, adding that something like this should not be included in the election program of a political party.

Still, it seems that the HDZ thought this through at least somewhat before they put it on paper. The target group here is, obviously, small renters, who pay large commissions – up to 25 percent – on platforms such as Booking or Airbnb to rent their apartments and flats. Furthermore, the French authorities recently came up with a similar idea.

"An idea reminiscent of past times"

However, Croatia does not come close to France in terms of development level and importance in the world, so, as a tourism sector employee who asked to remain anonymous warns, it should not copy the ideas of the French President Emmanuel Macron.

"Establishing a national booking portal is a bit of a strange idea to me. It reminds me of past times," he told us briefly.

"If we're going to have a state booking portal, then why not have a Croatian iPhone or a Croatian Facebook ?! The message here is: prosperity through regulation. I'm just wondering how they'll get a Czech, a Pole or an Italian to use that Crobooking," wonders Marko Rakar, an IT expert and a contributor to the Restart Coalition program, in a brief statement for Index, pointing out that he is not a member of any political party.