ZAGREB, CROATIA – Croatia has lost Ivo Sanader as prime minister, the person who has led Croatia in several political and diplomatic victories in the past few years, including Croatia’s entry into NATO and it becoming a full member of the UN Security Council. 

But as much support Sanader received from his supporters, that much the opposition and those disgruntled raised their voices and shouted criticisms against the prime minister’s running of the country through the rapids of the global economic crisis and its influence on Croatia.

As fits a prime minister, Ivo Sanader also found himself in the midst of many disputable situations – scandals that included the procurement of military trucks, his watches or the purchase of a new, bullet-proof BMW. Of course, then there was criticism from the international war crimes tribunal for the alleged refusal of Croatia to hand over the so-called Artillery Logs.

According to the speculations of many, it was the pressure from the public and the opposition for him leading the country poorly in the midst of the global crisis and shady business that caused Ivo Sanader to resign.

But will Sanader remain the exception on the continent? Judging by everything, definitely not.

Womaniser Berlusconi lost the support of allies and the people 

On the west coast of the Adriatic Sea, in power is a man for whom scandals and affairs seem to be a way of ruling the country – 72-year-old conservative prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. Even though he confirmed his popularity in April by winning in parliamentary elections, he has his job cut out for him.

Italy is burdened by a strong euro and low productivity, while its foreign debt is increasing on a

But the Italian premier is not the target of dissatisfaction because of the financial situation in the country. During the past several years, Berlusconi, one of the richest Italians and owner of the Milan football club, was charged, among other things, with embezzlement, tax evasion and bribing judges.

Dissatisfaction with him is also brought on by his preference of beautiful women. The latest case involved a young Italian starlet, 23-year-old Barbara Montereale, who is claiming that Berlusconi paid her 10,000 euros to come to one of his private parties. Miss Montereale also relayed to the media the confession of her friend with whom the premier allegedly had sexual relations. This caused the end of his 30-year marriage with actress Veronica Lario.

Furthermore, Berlusconi is known for despising the media. Last month, the Editoreale L’Espresso media company announced a lawsuit against Berlusconi because he urged advertisers to boycott the La Repubblica daily after it published details about his private life.

So, despite his victory at the parliamentary elections, Silvio Berlusconi has found himself slammed by his big ally, the Vatican, over his divorce, as well as by Italian media and citizens who are slowly losing patience for the man who once called himself “the best political leader in Europe and the world”. Berlusconi’s unpopularity has been proven by a scene at the location of a train crash near Toscana on July 1, when the gathered locals booed him and shouted at him “Go home!”, “Whoremonger!”, “Buffoon!” and “Paedophile!”.

Still, Berlusconi is not giving up that easy, so he is, as per usual, accusing communists and leftists for such incidents, or as he likes to call them, “the enemies of Italy”, completely dismissing the citizens’ criticisms. The next couple of months will show how long the people, as well as the prime minister, will be able to bear such a situation.

Failing economy suffocating wasteful Sarkozy 

Almost two years after he was elected, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has the least percent of sympathisers so far. In February, only 36 percent of French citizens approved of Sarkozy’s rule. Several months later, his situation is not getting any better.

Last month the media slammed him for vast expenses of his presidency, which place in question the honesty of his efforts to save the fallen French economy.

Spending restrictions imposed on all other departments, from which every state employee suffers in his daily work, do not extend to the presidency.

Rene Dosiere

- Spending restrictions imposed on all other departments, from which every state employee suffers in his daily work, do not extend to the presidency – a French left-winger, Rene Dosiere, said.

The expenses have spurred the French to even doubt the transparency of presidential bills, to which Sarkozy committed on several occasions.

The chief catalyst of the change of rule in France could be the financial crisis. France’s economy has decreased by 1.2 percent, which is the highest decrease since the 1970’s and the expected unemployment rate will rise from 7.7% to 9.8 percent by the end of the year.

This will lead to great social unrest and studies have shown that as many as 61 percent of French citizens are expecting mass strikes and a social crisis in the coming months.

But it seems that the exit strategy of the imaginative Sarkozy is diversion. At the end of June, he responded to the complaint of 65 members of parliament against the decision about the illegality of Muslim burkhas in France with utmost absolutism, saying confidently that “the burkha is not a religious symbol, but a symbol of oppression”. Such a solution is perhaps not the ideal option, but for Sarkozy, it presents the lesser of the two evils.

Gordon Brown let down by his own party colleagues 

Judging by polls and reports by British media, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party are facing inevitable doom, even before the upcoming elections.

At the beginning of this year, after Brown tried to save the British banking system with a refinancing package worth 37 billion pounds and after he cut VAT to 2.5 percent, polls showed that his popularity among British citizens grew by 37 percent. But his popularity was short-lived and ever since, polls have shown a constant fall in his popularity, proportional to the damage the financial crisis is bringing to Great Britain.

Disgruntlement with Brown in parliament reached its peak in early June when a fraction of his party withdrew and called for his resignation, claiming that before they submit their letter to the premier’s office they would collect the signatures of as many as 80 members of parliament.

But, as far as it is known, only some 50 MPs signed the letter, after which resignation after resignation within the party ensued. According to Reuters, the members of the labour Party left the party because they did not want key changes in the party just several months before the parliamentary elections.

According to some Croatian political analysts, Ivo Sanader returning to Croatia’s politics is inevitable, perhaps even as a presidential candidate, which could in the end show that the former Croatian prime minister has really found a much better way to flee the crisis painlessly, contrary to some other, internationally more pronounced statesmen.