President Milanović has a message for our neighbours: Dubrovnik is indisputably a Croatian city
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended in Dubrovnik a formal session of the City Council held in Marin Držić Theatre on the occasion of Dubrovnik City Day.
President Milanović began his address at the formal session by quoting a Latin expression: “Obliti Privatorum Publica Curate” (Forget private affairs, take care of public ones), an inscription above the entrance of the Rector’s Palace, saying that these four words contain one of two essences of this city – relation to what is public, to corruption and abuse of power.
“This city, based on trade, on earning money, on ingenuity and mastery, and that’s where temptation and desire to do something irregular always creeps in, has nonetheless managed for centuries to resist the temptation because had it not been so, it would have been destroyed long ago, even before the arrival of the Turks. It wouldn’t have survived”, President Milanović stated, underlining that this is one of the lessons this city can teach not only Croatia but the broader region.
“The second lesson is the sense to serve yourself, your citizens and if you don’t take care of yourself, certainly no one else will”, President Milanović explained two lessons from Dubrovnik. Moreover, he underlined that this is a permanent model for every state and political organization.
He added that by Dubrovnik’s example every Croatian government should learn, observe and study how to work on oneself and strive to preserve good relations when possible. “The city didn’t always manage to hold out, didn’t always manage to resist, it was attacked, but in general succeeded in pushing its interests, refrained from using big words and entering alliances that bring trouble and whose battles you can’t control. Aware of their identity, their work, their crown which is Croatian, but also of the Árpád and Angevin dynasties, their international character, their affiliation to the world and to the heritage of humanity, where it was included and inscribed”, President Milanović noted about Dubrovnik.
The President also mentioned the aspirations and claims of our Eastern neighbours to Dubrovnik’s heritage and identity, saying that “every fool has his joy”. “Dubrovnik is indisputably a Croatian city!”, President Milanović indicated.
President Milanović further said about Dubrovnik that it has always been rich and developed, except “in some dull periods of history that were rare”. Dubrovnik lived from knowledge, trade and money, and never was a poor city, the President stated, adding that there are European funds that should be used. “As long as they are available, they have to be used and spent religiously and fanatically, and not allow any to be lost. Because what will happen tomorrow, and what is the monetary policy of the eurozone and the European Union, I don’t know. We live now and that money has to be urgently tapped and each euro must be used”, President Milanović indicated, and congratulated the residents of Dubrovnik on their City Day and the Festivity of Saint Blaise.
Also attending the formal session of Dubrovnik City Council were the president of City Council Marko Potrebica, the mayor of Dubrovnik Mato Franković, Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect Nikola Dobroslavić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets and Prime Minister’s envoy Branko Bačić, and Member of the Croatian Parliament and envoy of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Andro Krstulović Opara. At the end of the formal session awards of the City of Dubrovnik were presented to the laureates.
In the continuation of his stay in Dubrovnik, President Milanović will attend the opening ceremony of the Festivity of Saint Blaise, patron of the City of Dubrovnik and of the Diocese of Dubrovnik. This year is the 1,052nd time that Dubrovnik is honouring its patron Saint Blaise whose Festivity in 2009 was inscribed on UNESCO’S Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The ceremony will traditionally be held in front of Saint Blaise Church with white doves released as symbols of peace, and Saint Blaise’s flag erected on Orlando’s Column.
Accompanying President Milanović at the formal session of Dubrovnik City Council and the opening ceremony of the Festivity of Saint Blaise on the occasion of Dubrovnik City Day and the 1052nd anniversary of the Festivity of Saint Blaise was the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas