President Milanović in Vrgorac: We must be loud and fight for our interests in the EU
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended this evening a special session of the Town Council of Vrgorac on the occasion of Municipal Day and the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul. In congratulating the residents of Vrgorac on Municipal Day and their feast, he told them to be ambitious, to set the highest possible goals, and to spend European money to the last euro because it is theirs.
“Croatia is in the European Union which is a reality for us now, and I believe that our grandchildren and their children will be in the European Union. However, one should be realistic and ready the whole time. We haven’t taken advantage of those funds, and when we do, they are absorbed at a rate of 5 billion kuna a year in Croatia, during a period of nine years, which is half of Zagreb’s annual budget for the entire country. That’s what we’re getting from the European Union, that’s nothing, that’s little”, President Milanović noted.
He explained that he keeps talking about the negligible amounts of money we take from the European funds not to discourage or dishearten people but in order to be more rational. “Not to get too excited in that big, complex system, where the small have to be loud, stick together and fight for our interests feverishly, but to be cool-headed. To be selfish in certain matters, and seek our interest because we are a small country, state and nation”, the President remarked. He added that Croatia as well as most European peoples and nations are experiencing a population decline. “It’s up to us and you to organize a good and safe life in this God-given space, this is like a historical lottery”, President Milanović stated, adding that Croatia is one of the safest countries in Europe.
In his address he also referred with skepticism to the speech by the president of the Town Council who spoke prior to him about the fighter jets that Croatia is purchasing. “It’s not true that they cost a billion euros, they cost a billion and three million euros, which is a lot of money. That’s for the next twenty years, for our country, our security, our freedom, independence, for the guard we can take, and not fear that someone will attack us. That costs, and I view this with goodwill regardless of all the criticism I voiced of the government and the way they are conducting affairs. Not because I am Commander in chief but also as a Croatian citizen, a father, a resident of this country, a Croat”, he underlined.
“Be ambitious, don’t set goals and think they are unreachable. Being cool-headed assures that every goal is realistic. You have to aspire to this, you are young, you are educated and you have assembled around the “Your town” project, not around an ideology. You have assembled out of fondness for your town and the wish to change things. I wish you and similar organizations of young people from Croatia the best. This is not intended against political parties, but today is the time to realize that if we are not loud in the European Union, if we do not fight for our interests, that they will bypass us or even trample us, without it even being intentional. They will simply not know that we exist”, President Milanović said in concluding his address at the special session of the Town of Vrgorac.
Also speaking at the special session of the Municipal Council was the envoy of the Prime Minister and State secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Šime Mršić, the president of the Town Council of Vrgorac Ljubomir Erceg and the mayor of Vrgorac Mile Herceg, who along with the State secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Tonči Glavina opened the “Days of Dalmatian Prosciutto and Wines” fair.
After the official opening of the fair, President Milanović in the company of his host toured the exhibitors of the “Days of Dalmatian Prosciutto and Wines” fair. Alongside President Milanović were the Head of the Cabinet Bartol Šimunić and the Adviser for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan