Thursday, 26 March 2026 23:35
Yes, our goal is to prevent young people from leaving Blato. We want to give them security for the future, to create a family and stay in the place where their ancestors came from. In order to achieve this, we need to give them a chance for a better life, support for families with multiple children, support for newborns, support for self-employment, exemption from paying utility contributions, etc., everything that can help young people and young families. We have placed emphasis on kindergartens so that all children are enrolled in kindergartens. We will also try to improve the sports infrastructure in our municipality, by building a tennis court, completing the sports and recreation center in Prižba, renovating the former Petkovi? Zlinja, and I hope to prepare documentation for the construction of a sports hall.
Blato has a superb geostrategic position. It is close to the sea, just a five-minute drive away, with the most beautiful and longest lime tree alley in Europe. Every day, more and more foreign tourists visit it. Many of them decide to buy real estate, and some retirees also for life
Blato is a small town located on an island, and it is not located on the sea, but through its bays on the north and south sides it has access to the sea, where today there are weekend houses and holiday homes, and apartments for tourists. Many foreigners have decided to buy real estate in Blato, but in these bays, so apart from the summer months they stay throughout the rest of the year. As for retirees, we also have people who have decided to live on the island all year round, by buying real estate, because the climate on the island is satisfactory throughout the year, it is neither too cold nor too hot, and the standard is lower than in some Western European countries, so they can live comfortably with their pension. In the municipality, we have two retirement homes, so their capacities are full, and Blato has a large number of emigrants who left Blato in several waves of emigration, so some of them return to Blato, most often in the summer, to visit relatives who live in Blato, and some also renovate or build their own houses.
Blato is known worldwide as the birthplace of Blessed Mary Petkovi?. Is there any work being done to promote the shrine of Blessed Mary, who is known all over the world, especially in South America where she cared for orphans and single mothers.
We people of Blato are proud to have the first Croatian blessed woman, our Mary of Crucified Jesus Petkovi?, who has her own shrine here in Blato in the monastery of the Daughters of Mercy, a society she founded and which operates all over the world. We have a novena in Blato in honor of Blessed Mary of Crucified Jesus Petkovi?, and we celebrate her feast day on July 9. Although we have a certain number of visitors, I think that we all need to work together on greater visibility and promotion of Blessed Mary Petkovi? and Blato as her birthplace, and we will try to initiate this through activities and ideas that will be led by the Committee for the Veneration of Blessed Mary Petkovi?.
We see a lot of foreign labor, from the neighboring countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also a lot of Nepalese and Filipinos. What is the attitude of the Blato citizens towards immigrants.
There is no xenophobia here, we welcome everyone with open arms and offer a chance for complete integration. All foreign workers have regular work permits, so we have no problems with illegal immigration or any type of crime. Here you can still leave the door of your house and car open, which is a rarity in today's world... Foreign workers pay taxes, and among them, the best ones are selected and filtered, who stay to work, while the others go elsewhere.
What are your next steps in the development of Blato?
We are a municipality that, given the budget we have, but also the credit debts we have inherited, will have to set priorities. We are certainly a municipality that generates the most income thanks to tourism, that is, all other branches are based on tourism, construction, crafts and agriculture. The biggest challenge we have to work on is the improvement of communal infrastructure, as the number of inhabitants of our municipality triples in the summer months, we must ensure that we do not have problems with water supply and electricity supply. We also have to work on the agglomeration of Blato and the northern and southern coasts, which is the standard in the world today, and of course improving traffic connections through the maintenance of our unclassified roads, and in cooperation with the County Road Administration on larger projects. Through all of this, the Municipality will continuously work to improve the quality of life of its residents through smaller soft projects with an emphasis on young people and their needs.
