In mid-March, we posed five identical questions to the candidates for the mayor of Zagreb regarding the economic part of the program for Zagreb, and we present their answers below. These answers were provided by Tomislav Tomašević, the candidate of the political platform Možemo! who won as much as 45 percent of the votes in the first round of local elections.
How would you describe your economic plan for Zagreb?
– Our goal is transparency, green transition, and digitalization, better quality of infrastructure and communal services for business users, open public procurement, and equal rules for all private companies. The City of Zagreb is the center of innovation and research in the Croatian economy, a city where the highest concentration of companies remains, both in service and manufacturing activities, which must find its opportunity for further development and growth in green and digital transformation, which the city will actively support through administrative measures and as a partner. However, to open up space for such economic development of the city, which will be economically propulsive, it is essential to make the operations of the city and all city companies completely transparent, thereby establishing trust between the city and its citizens, as well as all companies and entrepreneurs.
I firmly believe that the financial consolidation of the city must start with determining the actual state of the budget, its execution on the revenue and expenditure side, and reviewing all contracts of the city and city companies. We will conduct an external independent financial audit to determine the true state of the city’s finances. The city budget will, after a long time, be visible even to the fourth level, and we intend to establish a transparency system in which everyone can track all financial transactions from the city’s accounts.
What do you consider a priority job?
– As I have already announced, the public procurement system will, by the city administration of city companies, become genuinely competitive for private companies. Until now, about 38 percent of public procurements from the city and city companies ended with only one offer from a private company because favorites were known. This will no longer be the case, and the rules will apply equally to all private entities. Thus, we believe that we will obtain the highest quality companies so that jobs for the city are completed on time, with quality, and at the contracted price, and in this way, we expect savings for the city and Zagrebački holding of about 600 million kuna annually. For example, for the procurement of food in public institutions such as kindergartens, schools, and hospitals, we will introduce green criteria so that food comes from the Zagreb ring, thereby encouraging local family farms, obtaining higher quality food, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food transport.
In addition, we are preparing a whole series of additional simplifications of administrative procedures and their further digitalization, to save significant hours for all working people who until now had to spend in visiting city offices and city companies.
When it comes to reconstruction, how would you implement it?
– The city administration must primarily provide legal consulting services to citizens regarding the use of various instruments from the Reconstruction Act, and the City Housing Utility Company (GSKG) as a city company must have sufficient capacity to quickly and free of charge, as the manager of most multi-apartment buildings damaged in the earthquake, enable co-owners to prepare documentation for applications to the Reconstruction Fund.
Unfortunately, the majority of powers regarding reconstruction lie with the state, and therefore we will seek credit lines for citizens who would immediately start reconstruction and later receive reimbursement according to the law. However, for all this to happen, we will require the state to finally allocate relevant funds in the budget because in 2021 it allocated only about 1-2 percent of the necessary amount for the reconstruction of private buildings in Zagreb. When it comes to the reconstruction of public buildings whose founder is Zagreb, we will maximize the use of funds from the EU Solidarity Fund, which can only be used for the reconstruction of public buildings, thus creating space in the city budget for co-financing the reconstruction of private buildings. We will be guided by the principles that the reconstruction in Zagreb should not be a return to the original state but should be comprehensive, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, earthquake resistance, and quality of living to prevent further depopulation and touristification of the historical center of Zagreb.
Do you consider that the surtax is too great a burden for entrepreneurs and do you plan to reduce it to relieve entrepreneurs of excessive contributions? Would the city budget then be insufficient for all projects or would you cover the funds from other sources?
– The current exact state of all city finances is not known or transparently displayed, and it would be irresponsible to announce any reduction in the surtax until the true state of finances is recorded through an independent audit. However, estimates from our financial experts show that we would achieve a much greater effect of savings through the rationalization of city finances and investments in improving the quality of communal services that, like citizens, are also used by companies. Currently, almost half of the citizens of Zagreb do not pay the surtax anyway, but our long-term goal is for city services to be of higher quality but also cheaper for physical and business users, and then we will consider reducing the surtax. To achieve this, we will maximize the use of EU funds, which Zagreb has not been able to boast about so far.
Many European cities have introduced strict sanctions for graffiti artists to preserve city facades from destruction. What is your stance on this?
– I appreciate street art and good murals, but I also fully understand the concerns of facade owners; it is definitely a significant problem. When I look at the practices of large European cities in addressing these issues, I see that alongside sanctions, part of the measures includes prevention and designating sufficient areas in the city for legal street art graffiti.
{embed_digitalno_izdanje}{/embed_digitalno_izdanje}
