President Milanović in Sinj: Let’s fight for our rights in the EU, they will not hear us if we do not raise our voice
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the “Tripalovi dani u Sinju 2021” [Tripalo Days in Sinj 2021] symposium, which was organized by the Miko Tripalo Centre for Democracy and Law and held under the auspices of the President of the Republic in the town of Sinj.
The scientific symposium, which fittingly celebrates the connection between Miko Tripalo and his hometown of Sinj, is being held in the Alka Halls. “We were completing the Alka Halls with a lot of money out of a sense of passion and duty, for them to come to life and be our pride,” said President Milanović in his introductory address, emphasizing that today the money for their construction should come from the European Union and not from the national or municipal budget.
“In the future, all such facilities – maybe not the Alka Halls anymore, because they are completed, but everything that the town of Sinj and Croatian cities and small towns need – will be paid for with European funds,” said President Milanović, adding that this will be the only measure of Croatia’s success in the EU. He also explained that this has nothing to do with ‘withdrawing’ funds, but rather taking what is available to us and what is potentially ours. “Let’s forget lip service when it comes to the EU and let’s deal with ourselves. Let’s deal with how we want our society to look like, what are the values that prevail in it, because after all, we are still a state, a national state of a small people in a small area,” the President pointed out.
President Milanović said that not all in the EU view democracy in the same way. “I look at Miko Tripalo in that context and the values he would live today, as someone who would stand up for an array of European values, which are becoming a bit fictitious. But that fiction is made of solid material: freedom of the press, a free academia, free society, free elections and freedom of association that does not endanger the constitutional order. And that is why they are a lasting role model – both a physical and spiritual model of what Croatia wanted to become then, which was not destined to occur in 1971 because of the impossible circumstances,” he said.
“I believe that we will remain faithful to and consistent with what Miko Tripalo would be today if he were alive, if he were among us and back at full strength, if he could lead and compete. That would be Croatia with some German-Dutch values and not some other values. But we are here today, in Sinj, in Croatia. That is our destiny, it’s not bad. Let’s fight for our rights in the European Union, calmly and steadfastly, because we are so small and they will not hear us if we do not raise our voice. They have to hear us, there is a decent way to do that,” President Milanović concluded.
Former Croatian Presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović, Chair of the Governing Board of the Miko Tripalo Centre for Democracy and Law Tvrtko Jakovina, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Miko Tripalo Centre Branko Roglić, Deputy Mayor of Sinj Denis Bobeta and President of the Alka Knights Society of Sinj Stipe Jukić also participated in the “Tripalovi dani u Sinju 2021” symposium.
Prior to the holding of the symposium in the Alka Halls, President Milanović laid a wreath and lit a candle at the monument to the defenders of Croatia killed in the Homeland War and also held a meeting with the mayor of Sinj Miro Bulj and his associates.
President Milanović ended his visit to Sinj by meeting with members of the Alka Knights Society, who briefed him about the preparations for this year’s 306th Alka of Sinj. “I am the patron of Alka and I plan to come. I hope that the stands will be full,” the President said after the meeting.
Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić and Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy Velibor Mačkić were alongside President Milanović during his visit to Sinj.
PHOTO : Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek