Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić announced on Saturday at the celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the founding of his party that he will sign an agreement with “Tisak” next week to protect three and a half thousand people in that company, part of the Agrokor group, from going to the stock market.
“We are doing this exclusively for the workers of ‘Tisak’, we are doing this out of responsibility and for the name of our ‘Party of Labor and Solidarity’. If we were to do otherwise, we would be Pharisees, people who live a double moral, and we are certainly not that. We will do this with the new commissioner and all the union centers of ‘Tisak’ solely for those who need to preserve their jobs, and without Zagreb, ‘Tisak’ cannot be restructured and cannot survive,” said the Mayor of Zagreb and president of the Bandić Milan 365 – Party of Labor and Solidarity, Milan Bandić, at the Restaurant Globus in front of delegates and party members celebrating the third anniversary of its founding.
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He also stated that only in recent days are the consequences of Agrokor’s restructuring beginning to be seen regarding the value of shares in the pension system portfolio.
“It seems that we will have to answer the next generation of Croatian retirees the question of where their pensions are. I am not saying all this to spread panic, but to try to contribute to a faster economic recovery and stronger social solidarity through our political engagement,” emphasized Bandić.
He stated that even the Immunological Institute would not have been saved without the City of Zagreb. He recalled how six years ago he “pleaded and wrote” to the then government and the then prime minister to save the Immunological Institute, but, says Bandić, the response was that it was demagoguery, populism, and that it was out of the question.
“Finally, the Commission composed in parity – three representatives of the City, three representatives of the Government has made the final proposal that we will present at the next City Assembly and to the Government of the Republic of Croatia – the Immunological Institute is moving forward,” he emphasized, adding that one should not run away at the first sign of trouble and give up on problems.
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Bandić also warned of the significant social divisions that destroy positive and creative energy in society and the fact that young and competent people who possess that energy are leaving for other countries where they realize their ideas, raise families, and contribute to the betterment of another society.
“We are all called to stop this trend,” Bandić stated, deeming it paradoxical that until last week, there had been two months of discussion about the Istanbul Convention.
“Without diminishing the importance of that discussion, I primarily want to emphasize that in Croatian society, there has simultaneously been a lack of discussion about an important document from the European Commission – the Report for Croatia 2018, with a detailed review of preventing and correcting macroeconomic imbalances,” Bandić pointed out.
The Commission clearly stated that it recognizes Croatia’s progress in implementing certain reform activities, for example, through tax and administrative relief for the economy, but it also highlighted that due to the restrictive business environment, GDP growth will slow down, primarily because Croatia is not implementing necessary reforms.
“Education and healthcare point to structural weaknesses, and reforms are still only highlighted by empty slogans. The Commission also notes that while unemployment has decreased, employment remains low, which means we have not opened new jobs, but our people have emigrated to other countries. It was also noted that our national debt is decreasing, but Croatia, along with Cyprus and Italy, is one of the EU members with excessive macroeconomic imbalances,” Bandić emphasized.
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“It is sad that the in-depth analysis of our economy and the comments from the European Commission have not stirred the Croatian public scene as intensely as the Istanbul Convention has, and these burning Croatian problems have remained in the background,” stated the Mayor of Zagreb, announcing that on June 1, he will complete 18 years in the zone of responsibility for managing Zagreb.
“We will be a true corrective to this Government at the national level, and we support this authority because we have no better option and do not see a better path ahead,” said Bandić, emphasizing that he will do everything to translate what has been done in Zagreb over the past 18 years, which unfortunately has not been done at the national level, into state projects together with the Government of the Republic of Croatia. “Let’s work together!” he concluded.
The president of the Club of Representatives of the Party of Labor and Solidarity, Reformists, and independent representatives, Robert Jankovics, stated that he can guarantee that the representatives from their Club will continue to work every day in the interest of this country, supporting the Government of Andrej Plenković because they believe it is doing a good job and will never tire of it.
