Gordan Bosanac: God forbid that the APN, which has destroyed our housing policy, expands to the European Union

The European Parliament in its new, tenth term has fewer representatives in the Greens/EFA group – 53 mandates compared to the previous 70. However, although Croatia has not had a representative in this group for a long time (specifically, since the eighth term, the first since Croatia became an EU member, when ORaH’s Davor Škrlec was there), this time it chose differently. Gordan Bosanac from the Croatian party Možemo! is, in fact, a new member of the Greens. Regarding parliamentary committees, Bosanac will be a member of the EP Committee on Regional Development (REGI), the EP Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), and the EP Committee on Petitions (PETI). He chose PETI, as he says, to be more in contact with citizens, since this Committee deals with citizens’ petitions on some areas of Union activity. He will also be a member of the Parliament’s internal group for LGBTIQ+ rights. However, as he explained, he will primarily focus on social, developmental, and green policies in Parliament.

At today’s constitutive session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he voted for the re-election of Roberta Metsola as President of the European Parliament, and on Thursday he will support the current President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in her bid for a second term in that position. What scares him the most, he says, is that Europe does not shift radically to the right.

– My stance, as well as the stance of the group, will be known on Thursday. We are still discussing and consulting. As I have said before, I am inclined to support her for pragmatic reasons – so that Parliament does not shift radically to the right. We received a guarantee from Ursula von der Leyen that there will not be, as she says, structural cooperation with the European Conservatives and Reformists, but our idea is to have the majority in Parliament held by the EPP, socialists, liberals, and us – commented Bosanac.

The Greens find it important that von der Leyen promised them that she will not abandon the Green Deal, which is an important statement considering that the European People’s Party, from which she originates, strongly opposed the continuation of the Green Deal.

– I personally had the opportunity to ask her whether there will be more proactive work on affordable housing policies, she announced that there will be. This is something I would also like to work on in the new term. I expect that part of her speech on Thursday will be about public housing, as it seems to us that this is now a pressing issue in Europe – added Bosanac.

Subsidizing housing through cohesion policy

Regarding housing policy, the Greens have started discussing subsidizing the construction of affordable housing at the level of local communities through cohesion policy.

– Subsidizing has already started in the previous term, but it was minimal and many member states missed opportunities from that fund. Now many will decide to do so, but there will be a struggle over the model of what it means to achieve affordable housing. Von der Leyen thinks it makes sense to go in that direction, but also that it needs to be seen with investments and banks. I reacted immediately – God forbid that the APN, which has destroyed our housing policy, expands to the European Union. We are for greater investments and subsidizing available housing. Also, although I know this is a long-term goal, from the experience of the City of Zagreb where we are in the majority, I would like to enable direct financing of cities and counties, so that it does not all go through the Government, as this would, on one hand, speed up the absorption of cohesion funds, and on the other, democratize areas where it is needed. This will not be easy and I think there will be significant resistance in the Council – explained Bosanac.

However, the issue of how much housing is in the hands of the European Union and how much in national social policies arises. Also, different EU member states face different housing challenges, which could also complicate consensus on this topic. Nevertheless, Bosanac is optimistic about it.

– Young voters from both the right and the left are currently facing problems with housing policy. Will we leave it to the market or will there be more interventions for housing construction, that is the battle we will fight in this building – concluded Bosanac.