ZAGREB, May 6, 2018 - Croatian People's Party (HNS) president Ivan Vrdoljak said on Sunday some parties were irresponsibly questioning EU membership, although it was the best possible path for modern Croatia, and added that the job and policy of the government, in which the HNS was the coalition partner with the HDZ, was to absorb European funds as much as possible to avoid possible European budget cuts.
"As a member of the European Union, Croatia expects a lot from the budget, notably as we are in a growth stage and EU support is important to us," Vrdoljak told reporters in Krapina.
"Education, for which the HNS has assumed responsibility and which is one of the prerequisites for equal chances in society, has secured two billion kuna in the last ten months, of which one billion for vocational education," he said, adding that the construction ministry, led by Predrag Štromar of the HNS, had absorbed 2.3 billion kuna for the energy efficiency improvement of buildings.
"Regardless of possible European budget cuts, which some parties could use to continue to proclaim a dangerous anti-European policy, one should loudly say - the European Union isn't bad towards Croatia," he said, adding that the HNS would stand up against any policy that undermined Croatia's European order. "No more destructiveness, irresponsibility and cheap populism," Vrdoljak said, calling for "smart public policies."
He said the policy of the HNS and the government was European and that the HNS, as part of the ruling coalition, insisted on drawing EU funds as much as possible. "It is up to us to prepare the projects and use better the money which is at our disposal now, and to do the same with the money that will be at our disposal in the future."
