Just who do you call to organize a birthday party these days in Croatia?
I still remember the excitement surrounding birthday parties during my childhood. Like is everything going to be all right, will all the right players come, am I going to get what I want, is the weather going to be nice…? On the other side, socially, it was also very important to be invited to the right birthdays.
Today, it is still like that except that the parent factor, in the sense of organization, is missing, if you are relevant, other relevant people will fight to be your birthday planner. So far, the best Croatian birthday planner is Zdravko Mamić. But his services are reserved for the elite only. The last birthday he organized was for the Croatian Lady President. You might wonder who is this man who organizes birthdays for heads of state? Common sense would indicate that he must be the pillar of the community, the standard for exemplary behaviour. So NOOOT.
Our President’s birthday planner is under all sorts of investigations by the Office for Combatting Corruption and Organized Crime. I know that some girls like bad guys, but really? Any lady should think twice before even rubbing shoulders with such a person because we know that guys like this are trouble.
So ok, as every woman is entitled to some mistakes regarding the men in her life, and as we Croats like to forgive and forget as soon as possible (I think this is something Catholic), everything would be fine if things stopped there and then. No way, Madam President is furious because the Head of the Croatian Security Intelligence Agency did not tell her that her birthday planner was under surveillance and decided to relieve him of his duties. Yes, you read that right. It is not a problem that you hang around with underworld, the problem is that you were not notified that you are in bad company.
All Croatian media were writing about the secret meeting of Tomislav Karamarko, the first Vice-President of Government and Zdravko Mamić at the Sheraton Hotel a week or so ago. What would the most powerful man in the Government and the man hunted by the Intelligence services have to talk about? Everybody thinks that Mr.Mamić will try to use his influence to somehow make all his problems with the judiciary, tax evasion and fraud go away. But, this was not the case, the reason is that 25 May is Karamarko’s birthday and he wants Zdravko to organize it.
As my big 50 is approaching and I want the best for myself, my only fear is that Mr.Mamić will be in jail and it will be imposible to hire him. Thank God we live in Croatia where this is never going to happen.
