President Milanović in Dugo Selo: In Croatia, we need to be the ones in charge

“What you are doing is a job, you are doing it well and responsibly, people see this. Use every euro from European funds. Keep using the funds in an honest way, as you should. Resist the challenges which, unfortunately, many succumb to,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović told the leading officials of Dugo Selo at a special session of the Town Council held on the occasion of Municipal Day.

In his address at the special session, President Milanović again called for the use of European funds, saying that this money will soon be gone. “Because we will be a slightly more developed country, so we will be less qualified for this type of aid, and also because the European Union was not intended to be a transfer-fund in which the wealthy continuously give a lot of money to the less wealthy, in the hope that the less wealthy will become wealthier than them. The money that is available to us should be used up to the last euro as much as possible, because tomorrow it will not be there,” President Milanović explained.

“But there will be Croatia,” the Croatian President pointed out, emphasizing that the ultimate goal of all efforts, sacrifices, hopes and dreams was a Croatian state in which people live a good life. “In which we should be the bosses. In Croatia, we need to be the ones in charge and tailor it in our own image and according to our own wishes and preferences,” said President Milanović, adding that a million fewer people live in Croatia today than in 1991, when it was attacked and when a ‘few good men’ defended it.

“It’s a tough situation, but it’s not a tragedy. People cope with that, they move on, progress and fight for themselves in a competition that is fierce and does not ask how we are doing,” said President Milanović, concluding that Croatia matters only to us and that we are the only ones who ultimately care about this country.

Speaking at the special session apart from President Milanović, President of the Dugo Selo Town Council Kruno Blažinović and Mayor of Dugo Selo Nenad Panian were the Mayor of Sveta Nedelja and Member of the Croatian Parliament Dario Zurovec, who spoke on behalf of the towns in Zagreb County, Deputy Zagreb County Prefect and delegate of the Croatian Prime Minister Ervin Kolarec, and the Head of the Municipality of Rugvica and delegate of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Mato Čičak.

President Milanović was accompanied by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek