Croatian Television director Marija Nemcic is committed to reducing the number of staff employed which has earned her many enemies at HRTWhen the official start of the tender for a new HRT chief director was published in the Official Gazette on Monday 26 February, a strong lobbying campaign for the position was launched almost simultaneously. It is now definitely clear that there are only two candidates for the position and these are – as was assumed since Mirko Galic was finally appointed ambassador to France – Marija Nemcic and Vanja Sutlic. Several members of the HRT Council and some high-ranking editors at the national television house confirmed over the weekend, in interviews for Nacional, that the battle between the top contenders for the position of chief director has started at several levels.

It would be more precise to say that lobbying had already definitely started last week, when the Council relieved Mirko Galic of his duties. They did so practically under urgent procedures and without any kind of discussion, because the word for the past two years has been that it was his desire to leave for the diplomatic post in Paris. Galic's decision to not complete his mandate as chief director has irritated the majority of councillors but, in an effort to not incite new conflict at the moment the battle for his successor was heating up, they decided to let him go without a word. When it was decided on 1 April that Mirko Galic would no longer be working at HRT, HRT Council president Zdenko Ljevak remarked off the cuff: "Gee, Mirko, we sure relieved you quickly."

What follows is a spate of lobbying for the new chief director, which involves not just many of the leading professionally-employed people at HRT, but also segments of political parties, and even the President's Office. Some of the members of the Council have confirmed for Nacional that they are already the object of lobbying efforts, even though no one has as yet stepped forward as an official candidate. There is, besides, time for this, as the tender is open until 12 March, and the envelopes containing the names of the candidates are opened seven days later, when all those submissions that do not meet the formal criteria are eliminated, while the decision on the new chief director of Croatian Radio-Television is made on the 26th. The decision is adopted by 11 councillors, with the candidate receiving the least votes dropping out every round of voting. That leaves the two candidates with the most votes in the end, and then the second-placed candidate is eliminated.

A vote is then taken on the remaining candidate who becomes the successor to Galic's former function with eight or more "yea" votes. There is a danger that the members of the Council will not agree and that no one gets the needed eight votes, and then an acting chief director is elected from April 1 on, and the entire procedure is carried out again. The people Nacional spoke to, say that the entire Council would most likely submit their collective resignations in that event. They add, however, that there is little chance of that turn of events taking place because they have to date, despite their mutual differences, most often managed to come to an agreement, and in the election year not even Sanader's Government would want that kind of situation. Present anyways at all sessions of the HRT Council are the representatives of the OSCE and of the Council of Europe, which indicates that the international community continues to be sceptical when it comes to media freedoms in the Republic of Croatia.

In these circumstances Vanja Sutlic started first. During recent years he has been at the post of Galic's advisor for Television, a role bereft of any kind of executive tasks, but one of the most important positions in the HRT nomenclature.

VANJA SUTLIC was Galic's advisor for Television in recent yearsSutlic, however, has many enemies who have stated numerous criticisms at his expense. They accuse him above all of not having created an even somewhat respectable professional career during the 35 years he has been employed at Croatian Television. He quickly became a part of the managerial cadre, but it was never known, however, what it was he was concretely doing. His enemies point out that Galic too did not overly respect Sutlic, as he was two years ago the acting assistant director of Croatian Television, and then Mirko Galic appointed Marija Nemcic to the post. Since then he has served as the advisor for relations between Croatian Radio and Croatian Television, a quite undefined post. The thing is that Sutlic has a very solid backing. Within the Council the word is that Tomislav Jakic, President Mesic's foreign policy advisor, is lobbying in Sutlic's favour. There is also Mirko Galic, who is accused of trying to push Vanja Sutlic through as acting chief director, thereby facilitating his subsequent definite selection to the post, something the HRT board of directors rejected. Further complications are being created by the entirely undefined positions in the ranks of both the Government and the Opposition. And so in the SDP Sutlic is backed by Antun Vujic and Milan Bandic, while Zeljka Antunovic favours Marija Nemcic. Nemcic's ally in the HDZ is Antun Vrdoljak, with whom she worked closely in the first half of the 1990s, while Sutlic can count on the support of Ivan Jarnjak. But there has been no debate in any of the official party structures of the HDZ or SDP on a favourite for the post of chief director. If they have one they are going to have to offer discrete support because any candidate that would be linked to politics would be significantly discredited.

And that is why the lobbying is going on different levels. Backing Sutlic are Goran Milic and Bozo Susec, and his advocates claim that he can already count on the support of six members of the Council. Anja Sovagovic-Despot, Jadranka Kolarevic, Nada Gacesic-Livakovic, Nedjeljko Pintaric, Juraj Njavro and Zelimir Mesaric have been mentioned off the record. If that were true, Vanja Sutlic would need two more votes from among the remaining five councillors.

MIRKO GALIC's decision to not complete his mandate as chief director has irritated most members of the HRT CouncilMarija Nemcic too, however, has an exceptionally powerful lobby backing her candidature. Her close associates claim she had no intention initially of running for the post but when she saw that Sutlic in that case would have the best outlook, she changed her mind. She has the support of numerous reporters and editors, the many politicians and public figures she has worked with for years, and of some members of the HRT Council, who feel that in the professional aspect Marija Nemcic is much more successful than Vanja Sutlic.

"When you weight their careers against each other, Marija Nemcic wins hands down. She is a successful journalist and editor, knows clearly what HRT's priorities are, and is in her second mandate as the president of the European Association of Regional Television, something that has never before been achieved by someone from Croatia", say her backers.

They are suggesting that the selection of anyone other than Marija Nemcic, if she decides to run for the post, would not strike a responsive chord in international institutions. At her current post she had frequent meetings with officials of the European Union, also something that should work in her favour. Those in Nemcic's favour point out, as an additional argument in their favour, that Sutlic has admitted to not speaking English, which is a rare case in journalism.

Besides that, Marija Nemcic had endeavoured in recent years to launch the rationalisation of HRT, a task Galic assiduously avoided. On two occasions she drafted a list of 300 surplus employees, most of them administrators in the general administration department, but her attempts were stopped. At last week's farewell, Mirko Galic admitted that he had not dared slash the figure of 4000 employed, even though he had officially announced a reduction of a thousand jobs when coming in to the position of chief director. However much Marija Nemcic had in these efforts demonstrated her readiness to rationalise operations, so too has she acquired numerous opponents in HRT. All those who feel that they might, because of idleness, be fired, have a very rational argument against her election.

It is interesting that her backers too claim that the HRT Council is standing by Marija Nemcic. According to this source the two key members of the Council are on her side, these being Zdenko Ljevak and Danko Bljajic. Marija Nemcic can also, apparently, count on the votes of Suzana Jasic, Hasim Bahtijari and Darinka Janjanin. But her lobbyists also mention the so-called right wing camp in the Council, like Nada Gacesic-Livakovic, who got numerous roles in soap operas while Marija Nemcic was the director of Croatian Television. HDZ member Juraj Njavro is also mentioned, of whom it is said that in most cases he votes rationally, and they hope to perhaps win over Jadranka Kolarevic and Anja Sovagovic-Despot.

It appears that over the coming weeks the greatest pressure will be precisely on these few undecided councillors whose votes will decide the winner. In the 11-member Council literally every vote is crucial, which was evident two years ago when Mirko Galic won. Ten Council members were voting at the time, with Nedjeljko Pintaric and Jadranka Kolarevic against, while Ante Zuzul had his doubts, as he had a series of objections to the chief director's actions. Then, according to the members of the Council, there was a telephone call from the President's Office, after which Zuzul secured the eighth, decisive "yea" vote for Galic.

That a similar situation could be repeated on 26 March has not been excluded. At issue is the leading post in by far the strongest national media house and, although politicians may swear that they have no intention to meddle, the reality is different. The battle for the post of HRT chief director has already started, with the culmination yet to follow in which both sides intend to publish compromising information concerning their opponents in the press.