HRVATSKA KORUPCIJSKA SVETOST DALEKO NADMAŠUJE SAMU SEBE !

We are discovering new subsidies for churches: one ministry pays for the renovation of the bell tower, and the other pays for it again A lot is being written these days about the millions that churches receive from the Ministry of Regional Development. We investigated what happened to the Ministry of Culture ANDREJ DIMITRIJEVIC 19:55 252 RECOMMENDATIONS 9 COMMENTS LAST CHANGE: SEP 6, 2020 In recent days, the public has been talking more and more about the incredible practice of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds to announce a tender for the Community Investment program year after year, in which more than 90 percent of funds go to churches, ie projects reported by religious communities. Catholic parishes. Such an allocation of funds is controversial as the tender, at least on paper, is designed to assist local communities in the renovation, construction or reconstruction of public facilities. However, the Ministry of Regional Development determined in the first three annual tenders that the community that renovates religious buildings could receive the most points. After last year's Telegram texts, these points have been reduced this year, but the renovation of a religious building is still scored more than the renovation of, for example, a kindergarten. THE SAME PROJECTS ARE REPEATED FROM YEAR TO YEAR The Ministry of Regional Development has been distributing money in these tenders since 2017, when it was first initiated by the then Minister Gabrijela Žalac , and it was regularly announced and implemented by her, now former, successor - Marko Pavić. In two years, the two parishes distributed a total of 53 of the total 58 million kuna to which the state, at least according to the propositions of the tender, intended to raise the quality of life in smaller communities. However, by comparing all these allocations, Telegram noticed that some parish projects in the tender for the Ministry's money are repeated from year to year, or are very similar. In addition, we noticed that some parishes applied for the tender of the Ministry of Regional Development, and the money for the same projects was withdrawn in the tender of the Ministry of Culture, for the program of Protection on Immovable Cultural Property . Thus, this week's statement by Marko Pavić, that the Catholic Church in Croatia does not have the opportunity to apply for other competitions, seems even more interesting. FIRST THEY EDITED THE ANNEX AND THEN THEY BUILT IT In 2017, the Zagreb Church of Our Lady of Lourdes received HRK 400,000 from the Ministry of Regional Development for the arrangement of the church annex. Two years after they received the money for the arrangement of the annex, the same Ministry paid them 200,000 kunas for - the construction of the annex. Along the way, in 2017 and 2018, they received funds from the Ministry of Culture in parallel for the preparation of documentation for "arrangement and emergency intervention in the floor to prevent capillary moisture." It should also be pointed out that the parish within which this church is located also receives huge sums from the City of Zagreb, most often with the good will of Mayor Milan Bandić , from funds for small communal actions. At the same time, in that city district, which last year financed the renovation and arrangement of several other parishes with one million kuna, the ruling councilors rejected the opposition's amendment to allocate money to the local school in Volovčica to purchase LCD screens and sneaker cabinets. RECONSTRUCTION TO RECONSTRUCTION The Parish of the Holy Trinity in Donja Stubica in 2017 received 130,000 kuna from the Ministry of Regional Development for moisture remediation. And a year later another 150,000 for the same thing. In 2017, 184,000 kuna went from the budget for the renovation and rehabilitation of the church of St. Martin the Bishop in Beli Manastir. The same church received another 150,000 kuna for the same item next year, 2018. In 2018, the Ministry of Culture received 300,000 kuna for "conservation-restoration research and construction rehabilitation". In the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Skradin, there is no way to restore the bell tower. For this, they received HRK 150,000 from the Ministry of Regional Development in 2017, then HRK 100,000 a year later, and in 2019 another HRK 99,817. In addition, the Ministry of Culture in 2018 approved 100,000 kuna, you guessed it, for the "constructive rehabilitation of the bell tower". Parish of St. Eusebius and Polyon the Martyr in Vinkovci, from 2017 to 2020, received a total of 900,000 kuna in co-financing from the Ministry of Regional Development. For the reconstruction of the church, they first received 500,000 in 2017 and then 250,000 and this year 150,000 kuna for the renovation of the main altar. In 2017, when they received half a million kuna from the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Culture gave them another 100,000 kuna for construction rehabilitation and finishing works. MINISTRIES CLAIM THAT THEY DO NOT PAY FOR THE SAME WORKS When we sent the list of parishes with funding items to the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds, they replied that most of the reported projects related to buildings that are qualified as historical and cultural value. "Therefore, the interventions on them required specific, demanding works, and such project activities are carried out in several phases over several years," the Ministry claims. They claim that those who contact them with projects must sign a Statement on the absence of double funding, stating under material and criminal liability that the project activities for which they seek co-financing are not funded from other projects and programs. "Therefore, the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds did not pay for project activities, ie project works financed from other sources," they claim. The Ministry of Culture, on the other hand, admitted to us that it does not compare data on tenders from the programs of other ministries, but that they, like the Ministry of Regional Development, ask for a Statement on the absence of double funding . It should be mentioned that in this year's tender of the Ministry of Culture for the program of protection of immovable cultural property in May, 50 million kuna was distributed, most of which amounts to parishes. We immediately noticed that part of the money this year, in 2020, was again allocated to the already mentioned parishes, but in this text we did not list these amounts because we are waiting for a response from the Ministry of Culture for what exactly these amounts were paid.