On Tuesday, in the run-up to the European Parliament elections, the Mozemo party declared that the costs of the green transition must be borne by the polluters and that subsidies in agriculture must be given to small and medium-sized producers, not just large ones like Fortenova.

“Instead of slowing down the green transition, it is time to accelerate it further and make it social and inclusive for citizens, farmers and fishermen, while the costs must be borne by polluters such as the fossil fuel industry, airlines and pesticide producers,” said Gordan Bosanac and Vedran Horvat, Mozemo candidates for the European Parliament, at a press conference on Tuesday.

“We all agree that climate change is a threat”

Bosanac emphasised that the right-wing parties are once again trying to hide the fact that every village, city, region, country and the whole world is changing drastically due to climate change. “Five years ago, we all agreed that climate change was a threat, and now the right is claiming that the green transition should be slowed down,” he warned.

He recalled that the HDZ party voted against the Nature Restoration Law in the European Parliament, a law that states that a small part of the land must be preserved and restored. Secondly, they voted in the EP against the Greens’ proposal that most agricultural subsidies should go to small and medium-sized producers.

“Apparently, they believe that in Croatia only Fortenova deserves subsidies, while small and medium-sized producers get nothing,” Bosanac said.

“Every change has its price”

The Mozemo party believes that now is the time to correct the mistake of the last term of the European Parliament and the European Commission and make the green transition socially responsible this time. They will work to ensure that farmers are provided with funds for a socially responsible transition.

“The farmer protests we are seeing across the EU show that the planners have not considered who will bear the costs of this transition, resulting in the green transition being blamed on farmers in a very unfair way,” said Bosanac.

Due to fires, floods and other natural disasters, they propose strengthening civil protection across the EU and establishing a civil protection agency in Croatia.

Every change has its price, and the European Green Deal, on which the green transition is based, did not adequately include workers, farmers and fishermen when it was adopted, which is why it is facing resistance today, noted Vedran Horvat. He announced that the Mozemo party in the European Parliament will work to secure funding for infrastructure, especially in the transport sector, for the electrification of railways, for greater availability of renewable energy for citizens and for the discouragement of fossil fuel production.