Mayors urged to submit proposals for optimum system of municipalities

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday called on mayors of municipalities in the Croatian Association of Municipalities to submit their proposals and opinions on what can be done to be optimally improve the existing system of municipalities in Croatia.

More than 160 mayors met on Tuesday at a general assembly of the Association of Municipalities which changed its name to the Croatian Association of Municipalities which consists of 300 of the 428 municipalities in Croatia.

The prime minister told local government leaders that four levels of cooperation existed with them - sincere dialogue and partnership, strengthening the decentralisation of functions, fiscal decentralisation and support for concrete projects. He said that the government would continue to support the concept that its policy is based on - Croatia's balanced regional development.

"We will continue to support you so that we can succeed together in what is most important - to continue relieving the burden off citizens and entrepreneurs," the prime minister said noting that during the term of the incumbent government, it has financed the reconstruction or construction of 500 kindergartens around Croatia through various mechanisms, both national and European.

"That is a concrete message of our support and an excellent example for you to see the added value of EU membership. If it is easier to build a kindergarten now after we joined the EU than it was before then that certainly is a plus and not a minus," he said.

He said the government understood the (large) number of local government units. The Administration Ministry is managing projects valued at more than HRK 20 million to prepare an expert basis which, through dialogue will enable us to see what can be done to optimise the existing system, he said.

Text: Hina

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