ZAGREB, 18 May, 2021 - Thomas Waitz, a European Green Party co-chair, has said in an interview for Hina that green policies are neither left nor right but rather focused on dealing with the consequences of the human beings' actions on the climate and environment.
Waitz, an Austrian member of the European Parliament, visited Croatia in early May at the invitation of the leader of the Croatian OraH party, Zorislav Antun Petrović, to support the Green-Left Coalition's candidates in the campaign in the run-up to the local elections which Croatia held on 16 May.
On Monday, this Austrian MEP congratulated Tomislav Tomašević of the Green-Left coalition for a convincing victory in the local polls in the City of Zagreb. Tomašević mustered 45% of the vote in the first round of the elections for the mayor of the Croatian capital city and will face off Miroslav Škoro of the Homeland Movement (12% of the vote) in the runoff set for 30 May. The coalition led by Tomašević won the elections for the city assembly and was short of one seat for an absolute majority.
On Monday, Waitz tweeted: "Congratulations to the Green-Left coalition for their great result in the local elections in Zagreb yesterday."
"The Green-Left coalition won 23/47 seats in the City Assembly! Zagreb deserves a citizen-led & democratic movement to lead the recovery efforts," the Austrian politician added.
The European Green part also stated that its partners in Croatia were focused on the green post-quake recovery and that they promised to put an end to clientelism and poor management of the city.
Waitz, whose Greens Party is a junior partner in the ruling coalition led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Austria, says in the interview which Hina published on Tuesday that the preservation of the planet could be considered generally a conservative policy as we would like to protect the planet for the future generations.
EU expects Croatia to invest in rail lines
Commenting on possible demands stemming from the European Green Deal for Croatia, Waitz recalled that the Council of the EU and the European Parliament had reached provisional agreement in April on the climate legislature whereby the EU set an intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions implies the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels. Therefore Waitz recommends that Croatia should invest more in the rail network.
The European Union expects Croatia to implement such projects. Please invest in rail lines to Ljubljana, Maribor, Graz, Budapest and Belgrade, the Austrian MEP said.
He recalled that the EU policy "From Farm to Fork" envisages the reduction of the use of pesticides by 50% until 2030 and in this context he urged Croatia to invest in the education and training of young farmers about sustainable farming.
He also commented that the mass tourism could be sustainable and in this context advocated providing hotels and establishments catering for tourists with locally produced food..
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