President Milanović in Maruševec: Greed, not centralization, poses a threat to the country
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended today a special session of the Municipality of Maruševec Municipal Council, where he extended congratulations to the residents on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the municipality and the Feast of Saint George the Martyr. The President of the Republic spoke about the administrative structure of Croatia at the event.
“The country must be centralized to a certain extent regardless of who is in power. Centralization does not pose a threat to the country. The state must finance the central operations. The biggest enemy of the state is not centralization, but greedy and poor centralization,” said the President.
Furthermore, speaking about Croatia in the European Union, President Milanović said: “Be careful with enthusiasm. Croatia was developing even earlier, it was not created yesterday. Croatia’s administrative bodies, organs, traditions, administrations, everything except the army and diplomacy, existed before 1991. We have no influence over major political decisions. There are big states and small nations, big ideas and small nations. We are a small nation, but a nation that matured in special circumstances, which waged war under an embargo without anyone’s help.”
He said that in our relations with the European Union we must be fair, loyal and polite, but that we must know what Croatia’s interests are and must be very firm and persistent in pursuing those interests. “Otherwise, no one will notice or hear us. And that’s why every euro you collect is worth its weight in gold,” said the President.
“We were not created yesterday. Work was done here earlier, things were being created, built. This was not done by a regime, this was done by you, the people here. So, ‘kudos to Europe’, but we have to know very well what our interests are. We should not allow ourselves to be drawn into global quarrels because we do not have the strength to participate in them and we have no information. Every good master wants to know what is happening in his environment, wants to be informed and simply wants to live,” President Milanović concluded.
Speaking at the Municipality of Maruševec Day ceremony, apart from President Milanović, were the Vice President of the Maruševec Municipal Council Marijan Fatiga, Head of the Municipality Mario Klapša, Vice President of the Varaždin County Assembly and Head of the Municipality of Petrijanec Željko Posavec, Mayor of Varaždin Neven Bosilj and MP Barbara Antolić Vupora. Public recognitions were also presented on this occasion to commendable individuals for their contribution to the development of the municipality. President Milanović was accompanied by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
FOTO: Ured predsjednika Republike Hrvatske / Marko Beljan