As we hear from some of the candidates, for the first time in the EP campaign, we have openly anti-European options - it is followed by statements that the European Union is a threat to us, in various ways. From the question of sovereignty, through the possibility of introducing euro, onwards. What is your attitude, is the EU threat for Croatia, in any way? Are the current problems of the European Union a justified reason to claim that the EU is threatening us? You yourself said that "the EU is a space opportunity that we have not used enough in the first six years of membership ". Is it our fault or do we have someone else to blame. Why didn't we use our potentials better?
"I think that the fundamental issue of this campaign can already be formulated: is Croatia's EU membership a chance or a threat? The campaign for euro-borders is being pursued in particularly tightening conditions for advocating or rejecting a European project. The space for status quo is rapidly decreasing.
No, the European Union isn't jeopardizing Croatia. It is endangered by all of its well-known deficits that obviously survived membership negotiations and the first six years of membership. Since the 1990s, Croatia, due to the consequences of aggression, but also the authoritarian character of government, has cascaded in democratic transition, or strengthening democratic institutions.
We entered the EU 23 years after the breakup of Yugoslavia, and during that period we had HDZ as the main holder of institutions, state and private companies. After the SDP coalition government pulled the country out of international isolation in 2000, the road to the EU was open. As the condition for joining the EU was just the strengthening of democratic institutions, the HDZ, under the leadership of Ivo Sanader, practiced a kind of mimicry, partial adherence to the rules in order to complete the process by joining the EU. But by entering the EU and the HDZ's re-entry into power, they simply stop playing the rule of law and other democratic values.
That is why we did not make better use of the EU membership, because we were not institutionally prepared or enforced the laws transposed from the EU to Croatia, nor were the public administration bodies trained for the transparent and efficient allocation of these funds. About the reform of local self-government that would enable our local self-government units to implement large infrastructure projects, I really have no comment", Picula told to Slobodna Dalmacija.
Read the whole interview on the link.
