President Milanović at Rijeka Municipal Day celebration: suspicious public procurement destroys citizens’ trust in authorities
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended this evening a special session of Rijeka City Council on the occasion of Municipal Day. After congratulating the citizens of Rijeka, he wished the city to flourish, to be successful, ambitious, beautiful, clean and orderly, and as he said “just a desirable place to live, one of the best places to live in Croatia and in this part of Europe. I am confident that you could do it. I have always been proud and a bit envious of Rijeka”.
President Milanović went on to say that Rijeka is a mature city, having achieved its maturity quite a while ago. “Now the greatest challenge is to draw out continuity and permanence from this maturity. Rijeka is doing well and making progress. It’s had its ups and downs”, President Milanović noted, underlining that he will stress just one thing. “My message and wish is to talk about what we have gained from the systems and integrations we joined. We have been a member of the European Union for nine years now”, the President stated, referring to something that is public and often referred to as positive, namely that Croatia in nine years of being a member of the European Union has drawn 45 or 47 billion kuna more than it contributed.
“That adds up to 5 billion kuna, which is incredibly low considering the amount we contribute, and we contribute a lot. We have given up a significant part of our sovereignty, our natural state right to decide on our own matters. We have transferred it to someone else in order to get more. We have to be careful not to screw up in our calculations, not to get lost and work for foreign interests”, President Milanović underlined. He added that Rijeka and every other Croatian city should strive to absorb as much money from European funds as possible. “Just then can we draw a line and say how actually successful we are because the EU is a community founded by the richest and most powerful states that remain so to this day. That system was designed to remain as it has been in the last one hundred and fifty years in Europe. That’s reality, and things have to be looked at realistically whenever possible”, the President noted.
He wished the leadership of the City of Rijeka to be good and honest, and to take public procurement into account because “every fixed public procurement, every suspicious public procurement talked or written about in public that ends up being investigated, undermines and destroys the already pitiful mood and trust of the public in the honesty and competence of the authorities. That goes for everyone”. He further told them to be merciless and persistent in absorbing European funds, and to direct all their energy into major projects under way in Rijeka. “If it were not for Minister Butković and his Ministry that is doing a good job and that stands behind some of the largest projects, the picture would be dismal. As a state we aren’t good, ambitious or aggressive enough. We’re not selfish enough in certain matters, we just let things go”, President Milanović stated in concluding his address in Rijeka.
Also speaking at the ceremony in the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc, aside from President Milanović, were the president of Rijeka City Council Ana Trošelj, the mayor of Rijeka Marko Filipović, the Archbishop and Metropolitan of Rijeka Ivan Devčić, and the envoy of the Croatian Prime Minister and Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković. Annual awards were presented to the most deserving citizens for the development of the city.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan