In Solaris near Šibenik, a conference for HDZ mayors, city mayors, and chiefs is being held on Saturday titled “Local and Regional Self-Government in Croatia – Reform, Finance, and Development,” where in the opening speeches, the party president and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Secretary General and President of the Parliament Gordan Jandroković emphasized the strength and stability of HDZ, the partnership between central and local authorities, and called for unity and additional engagement from all in the party in communicating with the media and voters.
The conference in Šibenik was organized by the Foundation of the Croatian State Covenant and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. One part deals with the legislative framework for strengthening the quality of administrative efficiency, which should be an even better service to citizens, while the other part relates to the financing of local self-government.
“HDZ won elections in 13 counties and in 50 percent of cities and municipalities, which shows that we are the largest party in the country and the only one with the capacity for multi-level governance of Croatia. We must strengthen the spirit of partnership between the central level of government and local and regional self-government, and in the past year, we have established exceptionally good cooperation,” said Plenković.
“When we were in the campaign a year and a half ago, we did not expect that all the cabbage of Croatian transition would be laid on our table. But all of it. There is no topic that has not come to the agenda,” he said, asking which party or government would dare to tackle the crisis in Agrokor, which means in the Croatian economy, as HDZ did last year. “Few actors,” he said, adding that there are no international, geostrategic conspiracies in the case of Agrokor, only creditors for business reasons.
Plenković: People do not easily accept colorful lies, and that is our strength
We live in a globalized world of free movement of capital; an investor who operates legally is welcome, and this, he emphasized, is the strategic commitment of HDZ, from the Parliament and the Government through counties, cities, and municipalities. A part of political parties and actors promotes an anti-development, anti-investment, and anti-European reflex, and therefore we must, he said, work together to ensure that actions are quick, reliable, non-corrupt, and transparent. We have no tolerance for bribery, no chance, he stated. This is how the credibility of HDZ is built; people must see who is serious and who is not, and this message must be sent by each of us, he emphasized. “People do not easily accept colorful lies, and that is our strength,” said Plenković.
He stated that in the digital age of fast information, everyone struggles with fake news and that everyone should further engage in communicating what they do. “There are initiatives that not only aim to dismantle the political system but to replace political actors and strive for a dysfunctional political system. I expect everyone to engage further, media-wise and communicatively,” he said, adding that we need to raise awareness of the party’s strength now, when there is peace, when there are no elections. “HDZ is too strong, and no breeze or wind will shake us,” he stated.
He said that everyone in the party must also be its spokespersons and that continuously everyone together must work to create an optimistic atmosphere in society, as currently, a pessimistic and negative one prevails.
He said that the opportunity for unified action has never been better set regarding the calendar of political action. “We must take advantage of this. You must be the ones who provide ideas for improving our initiatives, and we must ensure that the Slavonia project, which we announced in the campaign, receives its clear framework, and then we have set in motion a process that has a clear task, which is the development of Croatian counties,” emphasized Plenković.
