It is important to have the right priorities.
A great example of just how irrelevant science is to the Croatian government has been published by philosopher Pavel Gregorić, who recently resigned from the Croatian Studies faculty in Zagreb and joined a research group at the Gothenburg University in Sweden, reports Index.hr on December 27, 2017.
In 2018, the Croatian government will spend more on mobile phone procurement than on scientific research projects. “Funding for new mobile phones in 2018 (the Government of the Republic of Croatia): 65,000,000 kunas. The total budget for scientific research projects in 2018 (the Croatian Science Foundation): 60,000,000 kuna,” wrote Gregorić on his Twitter account, quoting the numbers from the state budget for 2018.
With the total budgetary allocations for science in the amount of just 0.79 percent of GDP, Croatia is at the bottom of the European rankings.
One of those who have commented on this sad reality and the fact that the government is ready to spend more on mobile phones purchase than on science research projects is Kristijan Vlahoviček, a molecular biologist and a professor at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb.
“It is a very nice comparison. You can clearly see priorities of our government, which has decided to spend 65 million kuna for mobile phones and just 60 million on research projects. It is hard even to describe how short-sighted this is. They have demonstrated that they are not ready to invest in their own future and the future of their children. They have also demonstrated the lack of vision and rational thinking. They are dealing with trivial issues which do not matter in the long run,” said Vlahoviček.
If we compare these 60 million kuna with Europe, that is roughly the amount which individual research group receive for their projects, and not whole institutions or departments.
“In Croatia, that amount is invested in the whole year for all research projects in the country. But, it is difficult to increase this amount when there is such a dire need for mobile phones,” Vlahoviček concluded.
Translated from Index.hr.
