President Milanović Attends City of Split Day Celebration
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the formal session of the Split City Council held in the Croatian National Theatre in Split on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Domnius and City Day.
In his address President Milanović recalled his ties to Split noting that the “significance, influence and mark of this city on me as an individual are immeasurable. The quantity of talents and beauty that exists in this small area located between Omiš and Trogir is incredibly above average. I don’t see this anywhere in Europe”, the President stated, adding that the City of Split has not made a lot of progress in terms of industry, but is a showcase of talent, energy, passion, desire and results.
The President reminisced about his childhood when he would come to Split from Sinj “to see Hajduk, the old stadium, Plac football field. The city was dirty, the port was disgusting. Today Split is more beautiful and cleaner than ever. It was simply a special city”, he said. He also recalled the group of former Hajduk football players underlining the great talent and organizational skills that Split gave, dominating European football for years. “Maybe it didn’t make it to the top, but where it did go, I can’t find anything to compare in Europe. Such a small community gave such quality, which was a combination of talent and work”, the President stressed, adding that he’s not saying this for Hajduk’s sake, for whom he used to cheer. “I’m not a fan anymore, I used to be crazy about the club, but now I’m rooting for the Croatian National Team”, he noted.
“We have to preserve this small space, great nation, great and interesting people, our Croatia, and not dream that there’ll be twenty million of us, because there won’t. The main thing is to maintain ourselves and strive for the best. To be aware of our talent and our limitations. To be aware that on a population of four million there’s no such nation in Europe with so much diversity, culture, customs and history. Rare are those who are able to blend all of this into one functional, successful and competitive nation. This is where I see the Croatian force, the rest is work. The European Union is work. For this reason we have to take that money, since we’re not in the European Union for the sake of some great ideals but for the sake of practical ideals. And our ideals are our national ideals, and universal human ideals that go beyond and above the European Union”, President Milanović said, and concluded that the money from European funds gives meaning to the part of sovereignty that we gave the European Union, consciously and of our own free will, in order to receive more.
Awards of the City were presented to this year’s recipients at the formal session by the Mayor of the City of Split Andro Krstulović Opara and the president of the Split City Council Igor Stanišić on the occasion of Saint Domnius Day and City of Split Day.
Attending the event with President Milanović were the Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic Bartol Šimunić, the Adviser to the President of the Republic of Croatia for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić and the Adviser to the President of the Republic of Croatia for Education Jadranka Žarković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta