The World Bank’s Doing Business Index just came out, and all the newspapers in Croatia poured over it today. It compares one-hundred and eighty-one country in terms of ten indicators gauging the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. Singapore comes up on top while Congo takes the bottom. And Croatia ranks one-hundred and sixth. Countries just above it in ascending order are Guyana, Seychelles, and Moldova, whereas countries just below it in descending order are Nicaragua, Swaziland, and Uruguay. So far, so good. This is where Croatia actually belongs in terms of doing business, as all the business people in these parts know perfectly well. But the commission set up by the Croatian Ministry of the Environment to vet golf development to the west of Motovun accepted on this very day the investor’s proposal to build a huge facility with five-hundred beds. It is questionable to boot. Trading under the name of Jupiter Group, the British fund-management company behind the project has managed to get around all the administrative obstacles put in its course so far. Surprise? Far from it. What the World Bank index actually measures is the ease of doing small business. When it comes to Croatia and countries similar to it in the ranking, doing funny business is perfectly easy, and especially if the business is big. The bigger, the better, too. In fact, all the authorities involved are more than happy to help, given a little, well, incentive from the investor.

Addendum (September 12, 2008)

As an electronic postcard, this piece went to the Prime Minister of Croatia, Ivo Sanader, Minister of the Environment, Marina Matulović-Dropulić, the Governor of Istria, Ivan Jakovčić, and the Mayor of Motovun, Slobodan Vugrinec. It also went to Jupiter Group’s top man in London, William Crewdson. Last but not least, it went to the editors of top newspapers in Croatia and the United Kingdom. To no avail, it goes without saying. At the moment, capitalism is no less than rampant, and there is little hope ahead. The only good news is that a bunch of websites around the world picked up this piece together with another one about corruption in this miserable country (“Corruption in Croatia: A Case in Damage Limitation,” August 28, 2008). Hooray! But the best one can hope for at this juncture is to keep one’s faith so as to keep writing. As if it can make any difference whatsoever.