President Milanović in Split: A few more years and we’ll no longer have European fund money
“The City of Split, here on the Mediterranean, as the busiest passenger port in Croatia, must have no less ambition than to be a top place to live, to be a city in which people will want to live and work, to have a university that will compete with the University of Zagreb. Because there are absolutely no obstacles to achieve this”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated today at a special session of Split City Council on the occasion of the feast of St. Domnius and City of Split Day.
In his address, President Milanović noted that Dalmatia is a Croatian continent of a special kind and that our Dalmatian ancestors are among the most capable, enterprising and witty people when it comes to work, adapting to a new environment, giving rhythm to a new community and putting one’s stamp on it.
“These are primarily the islanders, but also the people from the coast and Zagora, and wherever you go – Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, especially Chile –are places that are always marked by Dalmatians, the Dalmatian character and the genius of creation that these people left there. That fills you with pride. Also filling you with pride is when you see an entire colony of people who found work in factories, earned their bread with great difficulty, raised their children with relatively small wages and thus broke all ties with their homeland especially sentimental ones. That is human, warm and big. But that Dalmatian gene I speak of is something I wish to everyone who has a chance to feel and see a small part of what is Dalmatia and what Croats from Dalmatia gave the world”, President Milanović noted.
He continued by saying he is pleased to see that Split is a city with ambition and that all open construction sites in Split have major developmental momentum. “However, at the same time they are incredibly and unreally expensive and all construction costs are expensive. This is where the state comes in, indirectly the state as a mechanism through which the European Union places a large part of the money. Not all and not all projects in Split are from the European Union, but the projects that pass lead to the fact that prices are simply going haywire thus making life more expensive and difficult in Split, and not just in Split. And that has nothing to do with any political option because, regardless of who is governing, the problem would be the same and the mechanisms of resistance to such phenomena should be the same”, President Milanović observed.
He added that behind the big story about European funds, not whatsoever connected to any political option, are hidden huge costs and unjustified prices. “Those are challenges and mechanisms that the state can oppose. Because if you can’t sell something for 300 thousand euros on the market, it can’t cost two million euros”, he noted quoting the example of a nursing home under construction in Zagorje that costs two million euros. “Will Croatia have material benefits from such projects? Will it make a profit? Will it be a richer country? It won’t! Will that last forever? It won’t! A few more years and we will be without European funds”, President Milanović warned, underlining that this is a very important topic, “because the money that is here, that isn’t small and that is temporary – is slipping through our fingers. And Split needs projects that will mean money, cheaper apartments, better quality life, moderate prices – and all of that is unfortunately threatened today. One should talk about this because this is a problem”, President Milanović stated in concluding his address.
Also speaking at the special session in addition to President Milanović was the president of Split City Council Željko Domazet, the mayor of Split Ivica Puljak, and the Archbishop of Split and Makarska Msgr. Zdenko Križić. Municipal awards were also presented.
Alongside President Milanović was the Head of the Office of the President Orsat Miljenić, and 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