City representatives of SDP, GLAS, and HSU will vote against the proposal of Mayor Milan Bandić regarding the acceptance of the model of strategic partnership for the launch of production at the Immunological Institute between the City of Zagreb and the Government of the Republic of Croatia at the session of the Zagreb City Assembly on Wednesday.
– We will vote against not because we are against saving the Immunological Institute, quite the opposite. However, you have a very interesting situation – the state treasury has a surplus, the city treasury has a deficit. Is it logical for someone who has a deficit to save someone who has a surplus, emphasized the president of the GLAS and HSU City Council Club, Anka Mrak-Taritaš, in a statement to journalists.
>>> The City of Zagreb will finance the Immunological Institute with 110 million kuna, production is being launched
SDP representative Saša Molan also believes that the local unit should not be dealing with this as an activity.
– On the other hand, he added, we know that the state budget was in surplus last year, and unfortunately, the City of Zagreb was in deficit or a budget shortfall of 385 million kuna in 2017.
Citizens of Zagreb should not be punished because it turns out they have to pay six times more on average than citizens of Croatia, he added.
>>> HDZ supports the strategic partnership of the City of Zagreb and the Immunological Institute
Mrak-Taritaš cited the example of the company APIS, which is co-owned by the City and the state, “and it does not function.”
We have Arena Zagreb, a project of the City and the state, and it does not function, she added.
So, if we know what the goal and purpose are, we can support something. But here, there is neither a goal nor a purpose, she noted, questioning why the City did not save Kemensko or Dioki. Money from the city budget is absolutely being spent in the wrong way, she said, warning of a deficit in the city budget of about 385 million kuna at the end of 2017, and now 110 million kuna will be given for the Immunological Institute, emphasized Mrak-Taritaš.
Mrak-Taritaš: We will not be a ‘fig leaf’ for the Waste Management Plan
Molan, when asked whether SDP would respond to the mayor’s invitation and join the working group for the development of the Waste Management Plan for the City of Zagreb, replied that he would “think about it further.”
He also stated that both HDZ and Independents for Croatia, as well as the mayor and his party, are responsible for the poor Waste Management Plan.
>>> Bandić’s Waste Management Plan was not accepted
We know that in anticipation of the development of that plan last year, they voted several times for cooperation with the Zagreb County, for changes to the Spatial Plan, and all of that, Molan believes, influenced the arrival of a poor Waste Management Plan at the session.
– We did not support the option for the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County to solve waste together. We also spoke about how it is being done incorrectly. Therefore, let’s see what the deadlines are, what the purpose of the working group is, whether the working group consists of representatives, someone else, and what the idea of that working group is. If the idea is a ‘fig leaf’, then we really will not be a ‘fig leaf’ for the wrong project, Mrak-Taritaš conveyed.
