In assessing Split's bid to host the European Games, the government was primarily guided by a study submitted by the Croatian Olympic Committee, which showed that organisation costs would exceed €60 million, while only €2.8 million of the total cost would go towards sports infrastructure, Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac told Hina in an interview.
Split was a candidate for hosting the fourth edition of the European Games in 2027. Addressing the City Council session on Thursday, Mayor Ivica Puljak called out the government for denying guarantees for the organisation of this sports event.
"Co-financing the costs of such a competition would potentially slow down the further growth of investment in all of our priorities. I reject the malicious and false idea floated by some individuals that the government denied guarantees for the hosting of the competition because it wants to 'sabotage Split' or, even worse, because it 'doesn't like Split'," the minister said.
"This is the narrative of the mayor of Split, whose model of governance has been completely exposed, and he is now showing nervousness because of the disastrous results of his administration. All major projects being implemented in Split are happening thanks to the support of the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the relevant government departments," she added.
Speaking of the European Games, Brnjac said: "According to the information from the organisers of the last Games that were held in Poland, the costs were eventually much higher than projected, coming close to €150 million euros, and neither the interest of the spectators nor of the sponsors lived up to expectations. I have no doubt that our organisers would do an excellent job, but at this moment we decided to target the funds towards strengthening the system according to our priorities, because unfortunately there are no budget funds for everything," Brnjac said
She emphasised that the government has so far invested nearly €9 million in sports events and sports infrastructure in Split, which makes it one of the cities that have benefited the most from government investments in the sports sector in recent years.
The European Games have so far been held in Baku, Minsk and Krakow.
(Hina/FaH)
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