Two years ago, John Vice Batarelo took the stage before a packed hall in Zagreb’s downtown Hotel Dubrovnik. It was the opening night of the first ever TradFest, the Festival of Tradition and Conservative Ideas, organised by Batarelo’s Vigilare Foundation.
A 49-year-old Australian of Croatian origin, and a devout Catholic, Batarelo wore a broad smile as he addressed the audience, which included the conservative American Cardinal and critic of Pope Francis, Raymond Leo Burke.
The first speech of the night, said Batarelo, would be about Poland, by Slawomir Olejniczak, the head of the Father Piotr Skarga Association for Christian Culture, an ultra-conservative Catholic organisation in Poland.
“I love Poland, and we are glad to see that they are trying to implement a culture of life there, particularly concerning the complete protection of unborn life,” said Batarelo. “Poland is becoming a beacon of hope in the West.”
Poland’s Law and Justice government, in power since 2015, has indeed become an inspiration for conservatives across Europe, an ideological ally of Viktor Orban’s Hungary in its espousal of traditional ‘family values’ and distaste for the secular liberalism of the European Union.
In Croatia, Catholic pressure groups have grown increasingly vocal, forcing a referendum in 2013 that effectively outlawed gay marriage and pressing for greater restrictions, even an outright ban, on abortion.
Batarelo, however, owed a greater debt of gratitude to Poland than he let on in that 2016 speech.
According to official documents obtained by Novosti, Batarelo’s Vigilare Foundation, one of the most powerful players in an increasingly powerful conservative movement in Croatia, was in fact co-founded in July 2016 by the Father Piotr Skarga Association for Christian Culture, an ultra-conservative Catholic organisation in Poland.
Polish control
The Statute of the Vigilare Foundation, submitted to the Croatian Ministry of Public Administration and seen by Novosti, specifies that the Father Piotr Skarga Association paid 5,400 euros in founding capital, on top of 100 euros from Batarelo’s original Vigilare NGO.
It names Slawomir Olejniczak, the head of the Father Piotr Skarga Association, as president of the Supervisory Board and fellow Father Piotr Skarga associates Arkadiusz Stelmach and Valdis Grinsteins as vice president and secretary respectively.
Under the Statute, the Supervisory Board sets the guidelines for the Foundation’s activities, adopts its annual and multi-annual action plans, approves, appoints and suspends members of the Management Board and controls management of the Foundation’s finances.
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