"Osijek is and must be the leader of economic, cultural and all other forms of development in eastern Croatia," state news platform Hina cited someone as saying at a meeting of the city's assembly on Friday, marking the Day of the City.

The session was also attended by Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, who said that “the implementation of projects that were transforming this eastern city into a pleasant place to live” was “visible at every corner.”

“Osijek really represents the economic, political and every other kind of center of Slavonia, and that makes us happy because everything that is done here is done for the benefit of citizens. That is why I’m glad that we have invested and are investing large amounts of money here,” said Plenkovic, who earlier today opened the newly-built Osijek to Beli Manastir section of the A5 corridor motorway.

“Primary school children in Osijek-Baranja County have had free meals for a while now, and we have now extended this important gesture to ensure that there are no hungry children in Croatian primary schools. We are talking about 311,000 students in our primary schools,” Plenkovic said, adding that a total of 544 million kuna has been earmarked in the 2023 budget for this purpose.

He also said that free textbooks, free meals and free transportation for students are the government’s policy goals. Osijek mayor, Ivan Radic, said it was “evident that Osijek is growing year by year”, stressing that projects worth more than 1 billion kuna are currently being implemented in the city.

He singled out the renovation of the historic Osijek Fortress, worth 127 million kuna, the modernization of the tram infrastructure, the purchase of 13 new buses and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. “We have excellent economic results. Our enterprise sector is the third strongest in Croatia in terms of net profit,” Radic said.