Plenković: Great damage from the earthquake requires great responsibility

The essence of the reconstruction is not a return to the previous state; the point is that the anti-seismic quality of the rebuilt buildings should be such that they can withstand another earthquake, God forbid, Plenković stated during the parliamentary debate on the law for which a record 10 clubs and 62 individual representatives were registered. He reminded that Dubrovnik is still recovering from the earthquake that struck it in the spring of 1979.

Representatives are interested in where the funds will be secured from, whether they will be spent transparently, and whether consideration will be given to poorer citizens who will not be able to finance their part of the reconstruction themselves?

– This is the largest earthquake with this much damage in the city center; 25 thousand buildings have been damaged, the reconstruction will take a long time, but we will strive to make this work systematic, meaningful, quality, and sustainable – replied the Prime Minister to SDP’s Peđa Grbin.

When it comes to funding, international sources will be combined with national ones; the government has not considered new levies, said Hrvoje Zekanović (HS), who was interested in whether the damage might be addressed with new excise duties, e.g., on energy sources, tobacco?

People cannot rebuild large damages on their own

The Prime Minister does not share the views of representative Dario Zurovac regarding the role of the state.

Respecting your opinion, we lean towards the view that great damage requires great responsibility, Plenković replied to representative Zurovac (Fokus), who advocates for much less state intervention and believes it is unfair to use taxpayer money from poorer parts of the state to help the wealthier in Zagreb.

The Prime Minister responds that his government in the previous term understood that the state exists for a reason, that people cannot systematically and qualitatively rebuild large damages from the earthquake on their own, through private initiative.

To Katarina Peović (RF), who advocates for full funding of structural reconstruction for poor citizens, the Prime Minister responds that the government is open regarding social criteria. We will ensure that we find an appropriate solution through discussion, he announced.

He also emphasized that it is important to prevent speculation on someone else’s misfortune. A law needs to be made to prevent this from happening, said Sandra Benčić (Možemo).

When it comes to the transparency of funding, the law is written just that way, replied Marija Selak Raspudić (Most). The law, he says, is written so that both the ministry and the relevant fund have a role, that prices are limited, that there will be public calls for works, and that any abuse will be prevented.

Since this is an unprecedented earthquake, it was decided to go for a special law rather than a general one, replied Dragana Jeckov (SDSS).

The Prime Minister dismissed accusations from SDP’s Rajko Ostojić that European funds are being poorly drawn, especially in the area of disaster risk reduction, which, according to the representative, has jeopardized the security of the state.

That exceeds the kind of imagination we have heard from you during the campaign, Plenković replied, noting that Croatia is currently at 97 percent of contracted and 37 percent of paid European funds, while his first government started with ‘nine, one’.

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