Heads of the Croatian Union of Municipalities, the Association of Cities, and the Croatian Union of Counties on Thursday welcomed the government's decision to cap energy prices, noting that this will enable the smooth functioning of educational and public institutions. Pročitaj više

“From the regional government’s point of view, we support the government’s measures because without them the functioning of regional government would be difficult and even impossible,” head of the Croatian Union of Counties, Danijel Marusic, said at a press conference.

The measures were also welcomed by the leaders of the Association of Cities and the Croatian Union of Municipalities, Zeljko Turk and Bozo Lasic.

Using the example of the town of Nova Gradiska hospital, Marusic said that without the government’s measures, the average cost of electricity consumption for October would have been 1.03 million kuna, while with the measures it was reduced to 170,000 kuna.

Turk said that, due to the rise in energy prices in 2021, local government units, which are the founders of various educational, health and other public institutions, set aside about 1.2 billion kuna for these institutions to be able to function.

The local government representatives also underscored that capping the price of energy will protect against increased prices for other services, such as water supply. They also supported savings measures and those that encouraged green energy sources.

They explained that many local governments had embarked on the energy renovation of buildings, which has already achieved savings. However, Turk underlined that rigorous savings on public lighting should not be introduced as this was also a matter of traffic and general safety. Turk was also opposed to rigorous savings measures in educational institutions.