President Milanović: Decisions are made in Croatia and whether our society will be happy and whether people will stay depend on those decisions

“You here are less guardians of the space that Croatian people are abandoning and are moving to cities – which is a slighter problem because a greater problem is that they are leaving the country – you are guardians of the way of life and the beauties of the homeland”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović told the residents of Gornja Rijeka where he attended a ceremony marking Municipal Day. He told them to nurture tradition and not to forget the Kajkavian dialect because “without that Croatia isn’t what we want it to be”.

In his address at the special session of the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Gornja Rijeka held on the occasion of Municipal Day, President Milanović told its leadership to fight for every euro and to be aware that it is ours, the Croatian euro. “It should be used and squeezed like the last drop of sweat because it’s our money and it won’t last forever. “At some point, that money will begin to disappear,” said the President.

In this sense, he expressed hope that Croatia will begin to develop faster “not as high achievers, but as very good, and we will less qualify for those funds that will go those poorer than us, because if this is not the case – we have not completed our task, we have not made progress”. In the event that we do not make progress, President Milanović pointed out that this means we are stagnating, and that stagnation is actually lagging behind. “Accordingly, our goal should be that tomorrow we don’t need European funds and that we simply give them to others, who will be less rich than us”, he added.

Pointing out that it should be a motivational factor and “the drip from which everything is later born in the development, leadership and progress of the Croatian state and the Croatian community of citizens”, the President said that everything else is an upgrade. “Everything else is a nice upgrade – the European Union is a nice upgrade and NATO. However, this is where destiny is built and where decisions are made. Whether our society will be happy, whether people will leave it depends on these decisions. Donja Rijeka, Kalnik and these communities nearby are the Croatian cradle, the root”, President Milanović concluded.

Speaking at the special session apart from President Milanović were the president of the Municipal Council of Gornja Rijeka Stjepan Borjan, the head of the Municipality of Gornja Rijeka Darko Fištrović, the head of the Municipality of Kalnik on behalf of heads of municipalities Mladen Kešer, the mayor of Novi Marof Siniša Jenkač, member of the Croatian Parliament Tomislav Golubić and Koprivnica-Križevci County-prefect Darko Koren. Commendations were presented to deserving associations and individuals for the promotion of the Municipality in the area of cultural activities.

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