President Milanović in Slavonski Brod: If we don’t take care of ourselves, nobody will hear us

16. May 2022.
16:58

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended a special session of Slavonski Brod City Council on the occasion of Municipal Day and the feast of St. John of Nepomuk, patron of the city. President Milanović congratulated the residents of Slavonski Brod on Municipal Day, and said one can notice that Slavonski Brod is making strides and developing.

In his address, President Milanović looked back on the past two years, noting that during the pandemic the domain of freedom has easily been encroached on. “Renouncing freedom isn’t good. As a people, a nation, a community, a distinction should be made between order, freedom, anarchy. This is what sets apart orderly, structured communities that are able to face challenges, but also maintain restraint and awareness of what their interest is”, he remarked.

As far as Croatia’s interest is concerned, the President underlined that we are a small nation that must tend to its own business and its own interests, be aware of what it wants and the means to achieve it. “When the national interest is threatened, to be ready to realize its interest using all available peaceful, diplomatic, and verbal means. Our interest is the European funds”, President Milanović stressed, and added that Slavonski Brod has been more successful at absorbing resources from European funds as compared to other units of local self-government.

“However, how are we compared to others, to states that joined the European Union shortly before us and are all more successful than we this task? I’m interested in knowing what the real gain is and what it’s compared to”, President Milanović stated, calling on a fight for every euro that’s available. “The state must fight for every euro and that effort should be centralized in order to help you. It cannot be spontaneous, unstructured, and chaotic, it must be centralized. As the numbers indicate, in this effort we are still rock bottom”, President Milanović observed, adding that as a nation we gave a great deal in return. “Sovereignty, the right to decide on a range of issues, our patience, our pride, and our dignity because very often nobody asks anything – even when it concerns issues that indeed pertain to us such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. We must realize in what kind of world we are. That world is not against Croatia, it is not designed to destroy us, but if we don’t take care of ourselves, nobody will hear us”, he stated.

The President went on to say that in terms of development we are where we were fifty years ago because at that time Croatia was also  a medium developed state. “Fifty years later and we’re still here. In the meantime there was a war, they attacked us and we defended ourselves successfully”, President Milanović stated, highlighting the people who deserve the credit – they fought in Posavina in 1992, and those who had to make the decisions, including the first Croatian president Tuđman – they had fears and dilemmas. “Every move they made had an effect on Croatia’s status. The people who participated in that weren’t your ordinary everyday choices. They are people who carried out a huge and unrepeatable task”, President Milanović underlined.

Addressing the gathering in addition to President Milanović were the president of Slavonski Brod City Council Stribor Valenta, and the mayor of Slavonski Brod Mirko Duspara, who presented public recognitions and annual awards to the most deserving residents for their contribution to the city’s development. Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan