President Milanović in Supetar: People need to be warned about the new times

“You are lucky to be a city, because lately I’ve been criticised for attending municipal and village festivities. Since you are a city, I decided to improve my record a little and come here, because not all of us come from Vienna and we like spending time with our own people,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said today in Supetar, where he attended the ceremonial session of the Supetar City Council marking City Day and the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

“Speaking of our own people, this is an island that belongs both to our world and to the wider world – a unique island, a unique place in Croatia,” President Milanović added, reflecting on emigration from the island of Brač throughout history. “I have seen what the people of Brač have given to the world and how they carried our name – the island’s name, the Croatian name, the Dalmatian name – across distant lands. The achievements of those handfuls of people from Brač who set sail across the oceans centuries ago are extraordinary and difficult to explain,” President Milanović said.

He stressed that this is a unique chapter in the history of Croatian emigration because “that success, particularly in distant countries such as Chile and New Zealand, is truly remarkable.” “It was a small people, a small community, without a state behind them, without a lobby, without financial capital, driven solely by the desire and ambition to succeed and build a better life for themselves. I respect everyone who went far from home and earned a living through the sweat of their brow, but the story of the people of Brač in New Zealand and Chile is simply unique,” President Milanović said.

Speaking further about the island of Brač, President Milanović said that “it is difficult to say that it was a poor island in the true Croatian sense of the poverty that prevailed across much of our lands 150 years ago.” In that context, he recalled Branko Balen’s documentary Autumn on the Island of Brač, describing it as a cinematic portrayal of life on the island in which “you can see all the beauty and maturity of the island in 1957.” “Before running water and electricity, you see people living in apparent poverty, yet surrounded by a remarkably sophisticated culture. You see the island’s history and traditions. This was originally a quintessential Slavic Croatian island – an island of farmers, labourers and fishermen, an island of ancient documents, an island of Croatian Cyrillic, which was not brought here by settlers from the mainland, but is part of its own unique culture. Everything that is Croatian, historical, ancient and modern – this island has always, even when it had little money, and even more so today, exuded a certain modernity. You can simply see it or feel it,” President Milanović said.

Finally, he wished the people of Supetar success in making use of “the remaining European funds of the kind we have been accustomed to.” “People should not be frightened, except by things that are unrealistic – and even then they should not be frightened, but warned. We will have to begin adapting to new times. I am not referring to security threats, because we have no influence over them. I believe we should wisely step aside and ensure that this madness, if it cannot be avoided, affects us as little as possible, because it is not our story. As for challenges, we are not afraid of them. I wish you to continue working for your own benefit and well-being, and to continue cooperating with those who benefit from you and from whom you benefit,” President Milanović concluded.

In addition to President Milanović, addresses were delivered at the ceremonial session by Supetar City Council President Danijela Kirigin, Supetar Mayor and Member of Parliament Ivana Marković, Split-Dalmatia County Deputy Prefect Stipe Čogelja, and Member of Parliament Arsen Bauk. President Milanović was accompanied by Nikša Peronja, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Local and Regional Self-Government Relations.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek