Instead of Inaugural Speech, Orešković to Give a PowerPoint Presentation.
On Friday, before the debate and vote on the new Croatian government, Prime Minister-designate Tihomir Orešković will introduce something truly new for Croatian politics. Unlike previous prime ministers, he will not give a political speech presenting his ministers, main objectives and measures of the new government. Instead, he will give a half-hour PowerPoint presentation. There are two reasons why the PM-designate and his associates have decided to make a presentation, reports Vecernji List on January 21, 2016.
Tihomir Orešković, former chief executive officer of Pliva and chief financial officer of Teva, is well-known in the business world for his excellent presentations. While he worked in Croatia, many Croatian businessmen and leaders of the Croatian Employers Association have expressed their surprise by how good he was during his presentations.
In addition, it is known that Orešković does not speak Croatian language very fluently, which could make the public impression of the speech worse. The first speech of a future Prime Minister is extremely important and it is an opportunity for him to send a message to the public in which direction the government intends to lead the country. Given that he will present his program, but also the most important measures and goals he wants to accomplish, it is clear that, if he were to solely rely on verbal expression, it might be overshadowed by his somewhat poor Croatian language skills. Of course, he will need to speak while giving the presentation as well, but listeners will be able to see a written explanation of his ideas and policies.
His presentation will have about 15 slides, and 80 percent of the content will relate to the economy, and 20 percent about other aspects of the society. In his presentation, Orešković will present the current situation in the economy, point out major problems and offer his solutions.
This is the first time that a prime minister in the Croatian Parliament will give his inaugural address in this way. Orešković’s communication with the public has so far been just a few short statements, with the only exception being a press conference after he returned from Kitzbuhel where he met with investors and bankers who own some of the Croatian public debt. This is not surprising since Orešković accepted to be the prime minister in an extraordinary situation when the Patriotic Coalition and MOST had just 24 hours to find a non-party candidate for prime minister, which was the condition for MOST’s support to the Patriotic Coalition. In his first public statements, he indicated that his primary goal will be to reduce fiscal deficit, which is demanded by the European Commission as well.
When Zoran Milanović became Prime Minister four years ago, he gave an excellent speech which gave hope to many that his government might do some great things. Unfortunately, the decisions which followed mostly did not match the quality of his words, but his inaugural address has still set the bar high. It is expected that Orešković, in addition to numbers and facts, will also have a more personal and emotional section of the speech which will include his personal promises, and also his ideological worldview.
