President Milanović at Istria County Assembly: Passage through the Učka Tunnel should be free of charge

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended in Pazin the formal session of the Istria County Assembly on the occasion of County Day. He called on a decision to be made for passage free of charge through the Učka Tunnel. “Why wouldn’t this be a topic today, in a symbolic way, on the day the decision to annex Istria to its mother country was issued? Why wouldn’t passage through this tunnel be free of charge”, President Milanović asked.

He added that it cannot be said that Istria is separated from Croatia by anything, except geographically and geologically, because between Istria and Rijeka there is the Učka mountain range, through which a tunnel was drilled and opened in the 1980s. “And now we have a second tunnel tube. The initiative to make the tunnel through Učka free of charge can be viewed as populism, but it can also be viewed affirmatively,” said President Milanović, and reminded that the new highway to Sisak is also free and that free passages through the the Sveti Ilija Tunnel, as well as the Pelješac and Krk Bridges. In this sense, he called on the authorities to make passage through Učka free of charge.

Istrian County Day is celebrated on the occasion of the adoption of the 1943 Pazin decisions on the unification of Istria with Croatia. President Milanović pointed out in his address that Istria was annexed to Croatia in 1945 by force of arms. “By force of arms carried by the majority of Croatian sons. These are people who in just a few days in 1945 entered Istria and Trieste with a brave, cunning and daring manoeuver”, he noted.

He pointed out that this victory in Istria was the victory of Croatian weapons and Croatian partisans who fought for their rights and their people. “They were led by their leaders, then communists, but by our people. That’s why this story is an unrepeatable epic that has never happened before, because previously Croatian soldiers gathered under the name of Hungarians, Habsburgs, Germans, but never for their own cause. And that’s why we owe these people our primary gratitude, and what comes later is a superstructure. By the same token, the European Union is a superstructure today”, said President Milanović, pointing out that the freedom of Istria and the affiliation of Istria to Croatia were won with Croatian weapons.

“In 1945 Istria enters the Croatian state-legal space not based on the philosophy of state law on which the new Croatian statehood and the Croatian political nation of the new century are based. Croatian state law, principalities in Dalmatia, Croatian Slavonia, Lika – Istria was outside of that, but throughout history it was inhabited by members of the same people, our people, the Croatian people who spoke Chakavian, which is Croatian only. Istria was Croatian and Istria is Croatian today, Istria is, of course, European too,” the President pointed out.

“Today, Istria is a beautiful and advanced region that can be compared to more advanced European regions. I will not give advice, you know best what is good for you. You know best what you need, what you don’t have, and you fight for it with available and civilized political means with a clear attitude of what you are, who you are and what your history is,” President Milanović said, pointing out that the Homeland War of thirty years ago is a great epic of the Croatian people and the creation of a state, but that “before that or without that, and without the national liberation struggle and without the partisans, Istria would not have been part of Croatia.” This should be respected and acknowledged. This is just one big story and probably one of the most important Croatian stories of the twentieth century, the story of the arrival of Istria to its motherland – Croatia!” concluded President Milanović.

Speaking at the formal session of the Istria County Assembly besides President Milanović were the president of the  Assembly of Istria County Sandra Ćakić Kuhar, Istria County-prefect Boris Miletić, the president of the Federation of Anti-fascist Associations of Istria County Ada Damjanac, Primorje-Gorski Kotar Deputy County-prefect Petar Mamula, State secretary in the Central Government Office for Central Government Procurement Ivan Bubić, and the Head of the Municipality of Sveti Petar u Šumi and delegate of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Mario Bratulić.

Ahead of the ceremony marking Istria County Day, President Milanović laid a wreath and lit a candle at the monument to the victims of Fascism in the Park of National Uprising.

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 / Dario Andrišek