President of the Zagreb City Assembly says HDZ will propose the change at the next meeting.
The president of the Zagreb City Assembly and president of the HDZ branch in Zagreb Andrija Mikulić said on Saturday that the Marshall Tito Square will be renamed as the Theatre Square, and added that he had already discussed the issue with Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, reports Index.hr on November 5, 2016.
“The HDZ group in the Assembly, together with its coalition partners HSP AS and Pensioners United Block, will propose at the next meeting to change the name of the Marshall Tito Square into the Theatre Square. I would not like to turn it into an ideological debate, but I want to remind you that the Parliamentary Assembly of the EU adopted a resolution and that the Croatian Parliament adopted a declaration that all features which are associated with totalitarian regimes must be removed from public spaces. One of those features is the Marshal Tito Square. We know that Tito was one of the ten largest criminals in the world, under whose rule many innocent victims were killed just because they did not agree with him. Today we live in freedom and democracy, and we can state our opinion publicly – and our opinion is that there is no room for the Marshal Tito Square in the Croatian capital. Therefore, it is in line with European legislation, and we have a number of examples where similar decisions have already been made. I think that one of the most beautiful squares in Zagreb does not deserve to have the name of Marshal Tito”, said Mikulić.
Mikulić was asked whether he expected the support of the Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and his party. “Not only do I expect the support of Milan Bandić’s party, but I also expect votes of all other members of the City Assembly. Why? Because this is a matter which should be done in accordance with good European practices and because Croatia has paid a high price for its freedom. The very name of the Marshal Tito Square is completely contrary to these two facts. Therefore, we are members of the European Union and we should accept good recommendations. The whole Europe is changing such names, but only we Croats are so ‘smart’ that he have not yet changed them. I hope that with the meeting of the City Assembly we will put this issue to rest”, said Mikulić.
“I have already talked about it with Mayor Bandić. I have presented to him my clear position and our future proposal. And yes, I expect his honest support”, said Mikulić, who denied that Bandić’s support for HDZ’s proposal was a condition for his party to support Bandić’s city budget for the next year. “I will not condition one with the other. I cannot say at this moment whether we are going to support the budget, because we have not yet seen the Mayor’s proposal.”
Reacting to Mikulić’s announcement, Zagreb Mayor Bandić said later on Saturday that the decision should be put to a referendum to be held on 21 May 2017, at the same time as local elections. “Given that this is a sensitive issue that President Tuđman took off the agenda of the Assembly meeting in 1994, and given that there are divisions among people whether or not to rename the square, I think we should hold a referendum,” explained the Mayor. He said that the referendum would not cost much, since voters would just receive one additional ballot paper at the polling stations.
Mikulić later expressed his concern that Bandić had allegedly changed his position regarding the proposal. “I have talked with him ten days ago and he was not against it. In the last ten days he has changed his position and now he says he wants a referendum.”
