The long-awaited Croatian Agricultural Chamber came to life with yesterday’s constitutive Assembly. As announced by Lider a month ago, Darko Grivičić from Brodsko-posavska County, a former president of the Croatian Peasant Union, was elected as president.
He received 82 votes from a total of 114 present members of the Assembly, while his opponent from Virovitica-Podravina County, Zvonko Pirić, received 32. The elections did not go as smoothly as it may seem at first glance, as candidates for president had to collect at least 30 signatures of support from Assembly members for their candidacy, which only Grivičić managed to do. His opponent Pirić also gathered 30 signatures, but the notary rejected his candidacy because he included his own name on that list. At that point, some Assembly members protested, accusing Grivičić of having political support, so Grivičić, to calm the situation and, as he said, eliminate any doubt, insisted that Pirić, who was missing one support vote, be nominated by the Assembly itself. He also added that it would not be good for the Assembly to express itself about only one candidate. Besides the two of them, the president of the Association of Peasant Unions of Slavonia and Baranja, Antun Laslo from Osijek-Baranja County, also had ambitions to become president, but he withdrew when he realized he could not gather even 20 support signatures for his candidacy.
Statute by the end of February
For the Management Board of 16 members, 57 candidates were nominated, and 11 were elected on behalf of family farms and five on behalf of ‘others’ (companies, cooperatives, crafts…). Thus, ‘others’ will be represented by the Agricultural Cooperative Lovinac, Vindija, Žito, Agromeđimurje, and the Agricultural Craft Brojne owned by Velimir Martinić from Vis. Grivičić told Lider that these were the most legitimate elections for representatives of farmers in Croatia. Various associations with different interests, even those with few members but who were vocal, sometimes, he believes, created chaos among farmers, so he could not fully defend their interests.
– Now it is different: the elections for Assembly members were held at the state level, so we have legitimacy – says Grivičić. Although the burning issue in agriculture will be resolving the difficult financial situation, the first move of the president and the Management Board will be to draft the Statute. As Grivičić told us, he has already proposed that it be developed based on the best solutions from the EU, adding that the agricultural chambers of Austria and France have promised assistance in this regard. Thus, the first meeting of the Management Board will be held on December 30, where the translated statute of the Austrian Agricultural Chamber should be discussed, and by mid-January next year, the second meeting of the Management Board will discuss the draft Statute. – After that, at the end of January, we will send the proposal to the Assembly members, and I expect that we will adopt the Statute by the end of February, when we plan to convene the second Assembly meeting – says Grivičić.
