President Milanović in Zabok: Without creative restlessness, there is no progress
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended today a special session of the Zabok Town Council where he congratulated town residents on the occasion of Municipal Day, saying that he wanted to encourage them to constantly think about what lies ahead and never submit to the ‘tyranny of routine’.
In his address at the special session, President Milanović said that now, almost ten years after Croatia’s accession to the European Union and all the hopes and expectations, it is time to see what has been achieved and what our goals are. In that sense, he stated that Croatia is still at the bottom of the European Union in terms of how efficiently it absorbs EU funds. “After ten years, we have five billion kunas a year more than we pay in to the European Union. Not counting the money for agriculture, that is less than 3 billion kunas, and no development will come from that. This is less than 3 billion kunas for all of Croatia. That’s too little,” President Milanović said, comparing Zabok with similar towns in Slovenia and Austria.
“Zabok, a decent and pleasant town to live in, performs more poorly than similar communities in Slovenia, not to mention Austria. With this dynamic, it has a chance to catch up with such towns in one or two hundred years. That is the model and framework by which we are functioning. And I won’t even mention the poorer parts of Croatia. They will fight for some time for those funds, which they are unsuccessful in absorbing, and that is the only thing they have left as a development component because they will not be able to get it from the state,” said the President.
“I am telling you this to bring in some creative restlessness, because without it there is no progress,” President Milanović said and added: “This is not the time for revolutions and big decisions. This is a time for constant vigilance in defining and recognizing what is in Croatia’s interest. All the wisdom of Croatian politics today and in the coming years should be to observe what is happening around us, how that benefits us, how much progress we are making, what our domestic product per capita is and whether we are approaching the richest countries of the European Union,” President Milanović concluded.
Speaking at the special session apart from President Milanović were Zabok Town Council President Dragutin Črnjević, Zabok Mayor Ivan Hanžek and Deputy Krapina-Zagorje County Prefect Jasna Petek. Annual awards were presented to the most deserving individuals for their contribution to the town’s development. Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić was alongside President Milanović.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas