Mayor Zoričić today said that the We Can party’s local branch and several individuals had resorted to slander in a bid to halt the project.

“Our city administration and I personally have been subjected to slander and defamation by We Can! officials and several individuals,” said the mayor.

“The future Hotel Valkane was added to the General Development Plan long before I became the mayor. All claims about the planned closure of the Lungomare promenade and the waterfront, the construction of a football pitch and the unlawful issue of the location permit proved to be false, and the atmosphere in our city became toxic,” Zoričić said.

The final ruling shows that the City of Pula acted in compliance with law and professional rules, the mayor said. Negative and politically motivated attacks on city administration staff made them uneasy, he added.

In October 2022, the referendum on the Lungomare promenade failed because only 11,065 residents, or 22.71% of the electorate, took part in it.

For a local referendum to be valid, 50% plus one eligible resident must vote in it, or 24,357 in Pula’s case.

Of those who took part in the referendum, 9,716 voted in favour, or 88.55% of the eligible electorate, and 1,256 were against (11.45%), while the remaining ballots were invalid. In the referendum, the people of Pula were asked to say whether or not they were in favour of amending the General Development Plan to prevent the construction of a hotel and other tourist accommodation facilities in a wooded area near the Lungomare seaside promenade.

After the results of the referendum were made public, the leader of the Valkane hotel project, Zoran Kostić, thanked the people of Pula for not believing the untruths by those opposing the construction.