In among all of the negativity and stories about corrupt politicians, be those stories mildly exaggerated or not, gems can be found…
All too often in Croatia we’re plagued with a seemingly almost constant flow of stories and articles about corrupt politicians, lying politicians, back-tracking politicians and the use of tax payer money to pay for all of it. Unless you’re a rather sensitive soul, it tends to lose its effect and we slowly become desensitised to such things, as sad and in actuality, harmful as that is to our society.
Rarely, the sunlight manages to hit a political gem among the rocks in Croatia, and someone with the genuine desire to help, rather than to sit in an armchair and receive money for every possible expense, pops up. Meet Dalibor Bišćan, a 28 year old student who still lives at home with his parents, the youngest mayor in Croatia.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 12th of February, 2018, the modest and humble young mayor chooses to accept his wage as a student, because it’s therefore cheaper and less of a burden for his town, freeing up cash for other things. The remarkable 28 year old still lives with his parents, and the only thing he owns for himself is a used car.
Last year, Bišćan was overwhelmingly given the vote of confidence and a seal of political approval from the residents of Hrvatska Kostajnica, a small town in central Croatia located along the river Una. This central Croatian town is still very much lagging behind the coast, and is still recovering from the Homeland War in the 1990s.
The town’s large debt has posed an enormous burden to progress, but, as RTL reports, the young mayor got right to work and is on the right track to removing that problem.
When Bišćan took over the responsibility of mayor last year, he also took on the burden of more than 7 and a half million kuna of debt, coupled with another 380 thousand kuna ”in the red” in the bank. Today, owing to the young mayor’s work and dedciation, the town finds itself out of the minus zone, and in a plus.
“My net salary is 3,500 kuna, travel expenses and daily allowances and the like were immediately abolished,” said Dalibor Bišćan (HDZ), mayor of Hrvatska Kostajnica.
With just 28 years under his belt, this refreshing character with a clearly very humble outlook on life, totally unburdened by greed, appears to be taking Hrvatska Kostajnica to new heights, ahead of him is a mandate in which, as he explains – he intends to push the little town to the forefront.
“The potential is in OPGs and in the production of healthy food, we don’t have any pollutants, we’re close to Zagreb. Our greatest potential is that, the Una river and Djed mountain,” stated a confident Bišćan.
