Centre-left opposition leaders Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Radimir Cacic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) said on Thursday that energy would be the most demanding and most important undertaking of the next government, pledging to start a new investment cycle in that sector if they won voters' trust.
"Unless the new government carries out the most important programme, which is energy, Croatia doesn't stand a chance at all," Cacic said at a press conference after he and Milanovic toured the concrete pylon factory in Jastrebarsko, 25 kilometres southwest of Zagreb.
Milanovic announced a new investment cycle in the energy sector. "We believe that in that way we can kickstart the national economy and that we could expect results already in the first year," he said.
Cacic said that special attention should be given to energy distribution because "not only that it has not been upgraded, but it has not even been maintained" over the last 10 years.
"We import between 52 and 58 per cent of energy, while at the same time we spend twice as much energy per product unit as the European average," Cacic said, adding that "with rational consumption, energy imports wouldn't be necessary at all."
