An interview with Stanislav Mišák President of the Zlín Region 112 Leaders Magazine II 2009 Photo Petr Zákutný THE KEY PRIORITY Is to Increase Competitiveness of our Region Stanislav Mišák graduated from the University of Veterinary Medicine in 1978 In the fi rst elections after 1989 he became member of the Council in Otrokovice Since 1998 he has been a member of the Social Democratic Party ČSSD In the years 1994 2006 he was Mayor and since 2006 has been Deputy Mayor of Otrokovice He also became a member of the Council of the Zlín Region in 2000 and since 2006 he has worked as Deputy Governor of the Zlín Region Stanislav Mišák was elected President of the Zlín Region in 2008 Stanislav Mišák is married and has two kids

Leaders Magazine II 2009 113 What are the key priorities for the following period of office The main priority is to increase the competitiveness of the Zlín Region and at the same time to support everything connected with this goal It concerns transport accessibility science research and innovation environment grants the development of our organizations like e g the Technological Innovation Centre Moreover we are planning investments into education health care social service renovation and development of the country Our main follow up priority is the acquisition of the means from the EU funds Be it regional operational programmes integrated operational programmes programmes of cross border cooperation or operational programmes of entrepreneurship via organizations established by us The main task however is to gather the EU and regional means in order to accomplish the best investments possible and so in a way to smooth down the economic decline consequences Could you mention some particular projects concerning the Zlín Region development launching at present First of all a long term problem of our region is its poor traffic infrastructure So we are going to apply pressure regarding expeditious building of the D1 motorway particularly its last stage in front of Kroměříž and also its follow up towards Přerov Another important highway is the connection of Hulín with Otrokovice via the highway R55 and its follow up by the south east circumferential highway to Austria Among other priorities I would like to mention the finishing of the highway R49 from Hulín to Fryšták and its follow up to Slovak border including its connection to Zlín The second important area is the health care system In February we launched the refund system of patients payments in regional hospitals as well as the subsequent transformation of these institutions into public non profit organizations Other essential projects are among others the construction of the Strategic industrial zone in Holešov where we would like to bring innovative technologies interconnected with research and science the establishment of the Cultural and educational centre in the former Svit factory complex Here we would like to establish a regional gallery library and museum and also we plan to create a regional airport at Přerov Buchoř providing both civil and military transport If I had to mention some specific investments to be implemented already this year these would be the construction of a new building within the Institute of Social Care in Zborovice the construction of a parking house next to the Regional Hospital of T Baťa in Zlín the reconstruction and building of an annex of the rest home in Uherský Ostroh improvement of the quality of life in the rest home in Karolínka the reconstruction of the Institute of Social Care in Kvasice the reconstruction of the Memorial of Great Moravia in Staré Město including a new multimedia display or the final stage of the construction of regional centres of salvage and rescue service in Valašské Meziříčí and Uherský Brod In this context are you ready to use the EU structural funds What significant projects are you going to back up out of these funds particularly Concerning the Zlín Region priorities the EU’s financial perspective up to 2013 and for the two following years is involved in the Regional Operational programme for both the Zlín Region and the Olomouc Region Within this framework both upper mentioned regions are going to receive about 16 billion CZK We are obviously ready to use the money effectively according to the defined top priorities which is the construction of highways development of our cities and municipalities and support of tourism These areas are going to be enriched by investments mostly and we hope they successfully boost our region Moreover we would like to get other financial means from thematic operational programmes Significant changes on the regional level occur especially in the area of health care services Could you tell us more about the anticipated positive consequences of the aim to cancel payments in hospitals for citizens up to 18 years of age and for seniors on the regional level and to transform regional hospitals into public non profit hospitals I personally insist that payments brought forward nothing but the disruption in relationships between the patient and doctor On the nationwide level the process of cancellation of payments is going to be completed soon as well Starting from 1st February we have established the system of refunds of regulation payments This refund concerns all types of ambulatory payments Payments of stay in hospital are really going to be refunded for kids and youth up to 18 years of age and for senior citizens over 70 years Payments for emergency treatment are not going to be refunded Concerning the refund of the payment at chemists it is going to depend on their business policy I mean primarily the possibility that they can for instance dispense their margin for the benefit of their clients We would like to refund the upper mentioned groups of citizens primarily in order to decrease social impacts on families with children and elderly people Moreover the transition of hospitals into public non profit organizations should bring better public control over these institutions Do you plan to develop the regional centre in Brussels Could you mention some particular achievements aimed at regional development accomplished thanks to the Brussels centre Thanks to our representation in Brussels we have easily managed to get involved with the EU environment and at the same time to make the Zlín Region visible as a dynamic one We have accomplished direct financing of a variety of projects to name at least some of them the RIS the Cognac the SupPolicy the Equal and the SAVE Our regional representation also closely cooperates with the European Commission Obviously we want to develop our activities in Brussels also in the future Our regions are also involved in the Czech Presidency of the EU What events do you take part in There was already an informal meeting of 27 EU Labour and Social Affairs Ministers in the Zlín Region particularly in Luhačovice at the end of January We organized this event together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and with the Office of the Government We participated primarily in the creation of the accompanying agenda aimed at the presentation of the Zlín Region with the main focus on tourist attractions After the meeting of ministers there was the session of the European Youth Forum Jeunesse consisting of the federation of more than 90 national youth councils and international youth NGO’s gathering 10 million young people from the whole world Another great event is the organization of the conference of PhD graduates from the Faculty of Management and Economics of the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín under the title Baťa’s Legacy for Europe Baťa’s System of Management and its Applicability in the European Economic Area This conference is held by the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín in cooperation with the Zlín Region authority Last but not least the agenda of events is going to end up by the meeting of the informal network of public administration representatives in Europe the EUPAN European Public Administration Network in Kroměříž in mid June 2009 The EUPAN is a network aimed primarily at the experience and the approved methods exchange regarding the utilization of information and communication technologies in public administration In this context how are you going to support the development of the upper mentioned Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín The University is our long term partner with whom we carry out a number of projects which is obvious from your previous questions Yet I would like to mention the most businesslike projects we work on To name but a few recently we have launched the Technological Innovation Centre in the cooperation with the Zlín Region focused on regional innovation assistance and at the same time on cooperation of particular businesses and universities Moreover we take part in clusters merging which stimulates the development of particular branches Thus the interconnection of the University public institutions and businesses is one of the key steps contributing to our region’s competitiveness rise By Pavlína Holancová českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz

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