City Administration Gives Priority to Private, not Public Interest

The Zelena lista (Green List), political party that is associate member of the European Green Party, protests the start of works, on August 1, on what they claim is `a barbaric project by developer Tomo Horvatinčić`, on the Petar Preradović Square (the Floral Square) in Zagreb. Zagreb`s Cvjetni Trg The party protests the actions of unscrupulous speculators and the city administration led by Mayor Milan Bandić, destroying the urban whole of the Donji Grad in Zagreb to build new shopping malls and exclusive apartments for the social elite, motivated solely by higher profits. - It is beyond our grasp that the Mayor, coming from a party that it, at least nominally social-democratic, could fully neglect the public interest and the democratic will of the citizens, as expressed in a petition that collected 54,000 signatures, in favour of the private capital of rather suspect origins – accuses the Zelena Lista. The party invites associations and groups to renew their protests, believing that the lull in their activities over the past six months or so, after the successful protests in Varšavska Street were a tactical mistake. Zelena Lista also invited the citizens to express their discontent with the actions of the developers and their political patrons. - The people have to get active and organized for democracy to work. Zelena Lista, promoting the principle of active democracy, will support all civic initiatives and attempts at self-organization. Then, when the next local elections come, the citizens should think carefully who to vote for, says Zoran Oštrić, Secretary General of the party.