President Milanović at Croatian Employers’ Association Conference: Abolishing municipal taxes overnight is not right

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the conference “Entrepreneurs’ Day,” which was organized today in Zagreb by the Croatian Employers’ Association.

In his comments on the economy and entrepreneurship in the last 30 years, President Milanović said that certain misconceptions must be dispelled. “I think we need to dispel some misconceptions because in the end it always comes down to that. It is always easier to accept a new concept than to get rid of the old one, especially if it is a bad habit. People, nations, states and economies live by habit and we’ve gotten used to some things. We are a service-based economy that has given up on classic production that is increasingly scarce in Croatia. However, we are still at the bottom when it comes to the race for high profits. If something does not change, we will be condemned to mediocrity and low profitability because the parts in this game were cast long ago,” the President emphasized.

Speaking of the competitiveness of the Croatian economy, President Milanović said that in some aspects it was profitable but that for years there had been no strategic changes in relation to the competition, although “people, nations and states like to compare themselves with others, especially with their neighbours.”

The President also mentioned European funds as a tool for making progress and against lagging behind, whereby he explained that EU funds are “the purpose of our being in and accession to the European Union because we, as a small economy, a small state and a small power, do not participate in other matters. However, we still do not use them enough,” he said.

President Milanović also spoke about the criticism due to energy transport fee hikes. “We are focused on our national interests. Everything that happens in the field of energy is politics, there is no classic supply and demand,” said President Milanović, adding that the purchase of INA by the Hungarian authorities was also a political act. “Their authorities are protecting this by political means, for instance by judicial manoeuvring with which they prevented the extradition of Hernádi, who is wanted by our judiciary. The state is the purpose and meaning in and of itself and it is the ultimate goal, especially a state such as ours that was created in war. The state, as the greatest value, is to be protected by all means,” he underscored.

President Milanović also commented on the announced tax reform. “The measure of abolishing municipal taxes overnight is not right, not to speak of the possible political motives,” he concluded.

President Milanović was accompanied at the conference by the Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy Velibor Mačkić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta