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The election of a new director of the Zagreb Institute of Economics (EIZ) has caused divisions among its staff, but has also brought into focus the question of how important the institute is today for the formulation of domestic economic policy.
They say some employees are unhappy with the election of the new director, Tajana Barbić, who was chosen by the administrative board against the will and wishes of most of the people who work there.
They blamed the situation on politics, as the institute’s main funder, the political committee elects three-fifths of the administrative committee members and thus plays a decisive role in the selection of the EIZ director. Some employees also expressed dissatisfaction with the administrative committee making decisions without the input of the scientific committee, which has never happened before.
Anti-Workers Committee
Discontent grew so much that some of the EIZ employees decided to send an anonymous statement explaining that Tajana Barbic’s potential selection (as it still had to be confirmed by the Minister of Science, Education and Youth Radovan Fox) was not their choice.
The competition, which brought to the surface long-rumored discord and bad relations within the institute, was announced in May. Two female candidates responded. EIZ’s current director Tajana Barbić, who has led the institute for the past four years, and Ivana Rašić, a scientific advisor who has worked at EIZ for the past 23 years.
Those who issued the statement claimed that Rašić was the choice of the majority of EIZ employees. They said that Rašić received the highest number of votes (9) from the institute’s Scientific Council, which recommends the director candidate to the Administrative Council. According to the press release, the Administrative Council “has not so far questioned the opinion of the Scientific Council, even when decisions were made with fewer votes and a narrow majority”.
We asked Danijelo Nestić, the chairman of the Scientific Committee and one of the most prominent scientists at EIZ, for comment. “At this moment I cannot make statements or comments to the media,” he said.
EIZ Board Chairman Mislav Ante Omazić, a professor at the Zagreb School of Economics who was appointed by the authorities to the aforementioned board, was also in no mood to speak to the media. Omazić, whose research interests include socially responsible business (!), did not respond to calls or emails.
According to a press release issued by EIZ employees, the board of directors chaired by Omazic made a decision on Monday on the election of new and old directors, which has not yet been made public. They also pointed out in it that in an internal survey of employees, 35 employees voted in favor of appointing Rasic as EIZ director, out of a total of 47 employees. They said that Balbic received 8 votes.
However, none of the EIZ scientists we interviewed were willing to officially express their position on the situation at the country’s largest economic research institution. Informally, everyone confirmed that relations within the institution, which is supposed to be the leader in economic policy making in the country, are extremely bad. However, not everyone agrees with the public press release.
Neki Sei Pdomislili
It turns out that some people have simultaneously dropped their support for Resic, even though they voted for her in the polls. They said that what was most important to them was the promise of working from home, but they later assessed that this was not the best solution for the institution, which needed to rebuild relationships. Others said that the situation was so bad that it almost didn’t matter anymore. They said that scientists had no motivation to work in this situation.
This is also reflected in the importance that economic research institutes enjoy in today’s society. That is, it has long been said that they have little influence on the direction of national economic policy.
“The government has no interest in maintaining the quality of services provided by the Economic Institute. On the other hand, the Economic Institute does not try to impose its ideas. Honestly, I don’t know what kind of ideas they represent,” said economist Damir Novotny.
The institute, which gets most of its income from the state budget (79% last year), is in desperate need of change. However, the current situation seems to suit many.
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