With the votes of some councilors of the ruling coalition and councilors of the opposition Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI), the Tivat Municipal Assembly tonight adopted the Decision on the transfer of the right of disposal to the Government of Montenegro over the building of the "Josip Marković" Cultural Center in Donja Lastva.
This building, which is officially state property with the previous right of disposal of the Municipality of Tivat for 12 years, without a legal basis as determined by the competent state authorities of Montenegro, is used by the NGO Croatian umbrella community Dux Croatorum and the Croatian National Council of Montenegro, which are under political control. HGI.
The leaders of this party have been pleading for years that the building of the Cultural Center in Donja Lastva be taken over by what they call the "organized Croatian community in Montenegro" because, as they argue, that building was built more than a hundred years ago by local Croats for the needs of the Croatian cultural societies of that time.
The state of Croatia formally stood behind their demands, so the Government in Zagreb recently sent the Montenegrin Government the so-called non paper in which she listed the unresolved open issues between the two countries, among which is the request for the transfer of the Lastovo House of Culture to the Croatian national minority in Montenegro.
Ten days ago, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić's government decided, with its decision, to transfer this public facility to the Republic of Croatia with, as they stated, "the aim of additional affirmation and promotion of the values of the Croatian community in Montenegro, as well as strengthening bilateral relations with Croatia".
The government did this on the eve of deciding whether all EU members will give the green light to the closing of four chapters in the pre-accession process of Montenegro to the Union, but Croatia still blocked the closing of one of those chapters, claiming that Montenegro does not treat it as a good neighbor.
The two-hour discussion at today's session of the Council of Tivat, to which the Government sent a formal request to make a formal decision on the transfer of ownership of the Lastovo House of Culture, in accordance with Article 35 of the Law on State Property, showed the dissatisfaction of the councilors with the way in which the Montenegrin Government is trying to of local administration, hastily "puts out fires" in relations with Croatia.
The President of the Municipality Željko Komnenović (The People Wins) appealed to the councilors and the authorities and the opposition to "look at the bigger picture and to protect each other" and not to try to give political importance to this decision which, according to Komnenović, is only a formal fulfillment of "the imperative legal requirement that prescribes what the Municipality must do when the Government requests the assignment of the right to dispose of property that is essential for the realization of something declared to be of public interest of the state".
He pointed out that the local administration, despite its efforts, has not been able to find with the leaders of the Croatian associations in the past four years a legal way for the Municipality to cede the Cultural Center to them for use, which Komnenović does not dispute the need to be used for the activities of members of the Croatian minority and the affirmation of their identity. and cultural heritage.
He pointed out that according to the law, the Municipality could only announce a tender for leasing the House, to which all NGOs could apply, not only those with a Croatian sign, so that the one who offers the highest rent would get it, but that he could not reach an agreement, "so the Government found another solution based on the tzakon to solve this problem."
"No one is putting pressure on you to vote this way or that, nor can anyone by law influence the actions of councilors who are justifiably angry because the government already ran yesterday to announce that this decision had already been made before this discussion in the Tivat Parliament." pointed out Komnenović, adding that the local government led by him stands for the affirmation of civil society and "normal coexistence in Tivat, where members of more than 50 different nations live".
The opposition councilors used this opportunity to call out Komenović and the ruling coalition that, with this action, they are subject to centralism and the dictates of Podgorica, against which the constituents of the Tivataka government had previously advocated and fought in their campaigns.
"Where are you now to say that you won't do it like that anymore, Podgorica. This would not have come to this if there was more political wisdom and knowledge, and less political marketing that you have demonstrated for the past four years. I hope that this is a big lesson for you not to "sharpen swords' on issues for which you know in advance what can cause everything, so that you don't overdo it with your story about decentralization and civil lists, which is now coming back to your head like a boomerang," said Mayor Vatroslav Belan (LP).
Komnenović replied that he remains on these political principles and that his commitment to decentralization is best confirmed by his initiative and that of the other five presidents of coastal municipalities from last week on passing a new law, abolishing JO Morsko dobro and returning jurisdiction over the coast to the municipalities.
Komnenović appealed to the councilors to put an end to the topic of the House of Culture without a big and difficult political story about this sensitive topic because, as he said, "it is in the best interest of Tivat" and said that this should have been resolved in time by the former local DPS- om-led government in which HGI was also present, but she did not do it.
"The former government avoided solving it so that some media would not 'crucify' it on their front pages. It is said that Croatian associations used the House in the past years without a legal basis, and if some people from here ask, would that still be the case or would we we went outside, to the meadow," said Adrijan Vuksanović (HGI).
He explained the contracts on the five-year assignment of the House of Culture in Donja Lastva, which DPS concluded with Dux Croatorum in 2012 and 2017, and which in the meantime were declared illegal by the competent authorities, by saying that "the spirit of that legal norm was that a community that is here autochtron, gets its own space, so the questioning of that right is regrettable".
Vuksanović said that today he "does not rejoice or feel triumphant" about the Montenegrin Government's decision to act in this way against the Municipality of Tivat, adding that "this issue is crucially important for the Croatian community here and everyone who raises their hands for this today is contributing to it".
"I am aware of our burdens from the past and I don't want to mention them today, but rather let this be a day in which we will build togetherness in Tivat, as much as possible," he pointed out, saying that the Croatian minority in Tivat and Boka does not want to be ghettoized and isolated and that neither now nor in the future at the entrance to the Home in Lastva "no one will count anyone and everyone is welcome".
Although the Government of Montenegro announced that it was taking over the House of Culture in Donja Lastva to the Municipality of Tivat with the intention of handing it over to the Republic of Croatia, Vuksanović said that this facility "does not become extra-territorial", and concluded that "today is not the result of desire, but of necessity, and have brought decisions from the state level".
Director of the Property Directorate of the Municipality of Tivat, Janko Rakočević, underlined that Croatian associations have used the Dom kulture in Donja Lastva for the past 12 years "without a legal basis for it, and therefore what the Government is proposing provides a legal way to solve that problem", while Ivan Starčević who, in front of the NGO Matica Boka, used the Institute of Free Chairs, fiercely criticized this procedure of the Montenegrin Government, calling it "bottom of the bottom" and characterizing it as a continuation of the Government's efforts to belittle Tivat and Boka and centralizes decision-making and manages local resources. Starčević accused the Government of not having dignity and integrity, and of being subject to political blackmail from Zagreb, which conditions Montenegro's European integration in this way.
The decision was criticized by the councilors of the ruling majority, Dejan Risančić (DSS) and Sanja Vuković (Tivatska akcija), who in the end voted against its adoption, although neither disputed the need for the local Croatian community to have adequate space for its cultural activities.
"It is unfortunate that we as a Municipality in the 21st century are 'returning' the right of disposal to the Government over our House of Culture and thereby indirectly sending a message that we are supposedly incapable of legally disposing of our facilities," Risnačić pointed out, while Vuković said that this " moving the political ball from Podgorica to the yard of Tivat" and evaluated it as an incorrect action of the Government, which on the same day when it formally submitted to the Municipality, a request for the transfer of the right to dispose of Dom, in the cadastre, made changes to the data in the immovable property list, which would formally enable this.
"This is an order and the crudest centralization instead of decentralization and affirmation of local administrations, which everyone is full of. Without getting into high politics and interstate relations, I simply cannot accept that someone is trying to degrade the function of councilors like this," Vuković said, adding that no documents were presented to her as to how the House of Culture in Donja Lastva suddenly became state property, while all other Houses of Culture in that town are still property of the Municipality of Tivat in the cadastre.
Although Nikola Došljak (DPS) and Igor Petković (SD) said in the discussion that their parties support the transfer of the right to dispose of the House of Culture in Donja Lastva to the Government with the intention of giving it to Croatia, the councilors of those parties did not declare themselves during the final vote, nor did Vatroslav Belan. (LP) who also pointed out "if I were to vote, I would be in favor".
Nevertheless, the decision was passed by the votes of some local government councilors and the opposition HGI. One member of DSS and TA was against it, while the president of SO Miljan Marković (Nova) and Dejan Piper (Narod pobejeđaje) abstained.
With the majority of the ruling coalition's votes, after an almost four-hour discussion, the Council adopted the decision on the budget of the Municipality for the next year in the amount of 33,8 million euros, the program of spatial planning of the Municipality for 2025, weighing 22,13 million euros, as well as work programs and financial plans for the next year of local companies and municipalities.
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