This is our first day on line, and what a day it is. We expected to deal mainly with Croatia’s position in international relations, its internal politics, some basic relations within the EU and ordinary every day politics of the EU and its latest member.

However, the news of Brexit stunned us all. Perhaps naively, we were hoping that the results of the referendum will be different and life will continue as usual. But the islanders shocked us profoundly and made us consider how an event like this is possible at all? What happened to weaken the bonds between the people of the United Kingdom and the European Union so much, and at the time when we talk about deepening of the political union? Can the EU answer these questions before it unravels?

While this news overshadows most other events, it does not mean nothing else is going on. Croatia is headed for new elections in the fall, and much of the political rhetorics stand to change. After a series of political mistakes the HDZ is entering the battle on a weak footing as much of what they built their previous campaign on is not likely to bear fruit in the days to come. Much of their credibility with the voters was undermined by a series of affairs, and at least some of the nationalistic posturing is by now well spent. This seems to have cost it a few points in the ratings. On the other hand, the SDP mainly flew under the radar and managed to hold on to its numbers more or less undented. This was made easier by the fact that the first few moves of the current government were highly unpopular measures, so all SDP had to do is wait and offer an occasional criticism.

Most, the new force on the political scene, managed to lose most of its numbers in the few short months it was a part of the government, and now seems to hope to regain some of the lost ground by insisting on some basic moral creeds which lead, if need be, to a fall of a government. For now, the strategy seems to be working, if only so. But most of Most’s and HDZ lost numbers did not seem to cross over to the SDP, begging the question where will those votes go – to Živi Zid or to some other player? And Živi Zid was already hit by a mini-scandal which was immediately blamed on HDZ although not much was offered in terms of evidence.

We will analyze all of those issues in days to come, but today we will concentrate on Brexit and its consequences. So read on…