Sale of State Agricultural Land is Prohibited

The government today submitted a proposal for a new law on agricultural land to the parliamentary procedure, which would, among other things, prohibit the sale of that land and put an end to inadequate land use and indiscipline in land repurposing.

Decisions on leasing and selling agricultural land under the current law were made by local government units based on programs approved by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Now, the proposal suggests the abolition of these programs and a ban on land sales, with the Agency for Agricultural Land Management deciding on leasing.

So far, 218,493 hectares were planned for sale, and 62,775 hectares of state land have been sold.

If the proposed law is accepted by the Parliament, in the future, only private land will be allowed to be sold in Croatia, but even that land will not be able to be purchased by foreigners in the next seven years, as such a moratorium has been negotiated with the EU.

State agricultural land and fishponds will be leased for 50 years, and a priority order for leasing rights has been proposed, where 60 out of 100 points will be awarded for the lessee’s economic program, 20 points will be based on previous ownership, and 20 points will be based on the amount of rent.

Half of the rental income will go to the state, and half to the budget of local government units.

The government also proposes a tenfold increase in one-time fees for repurposing agricultural land into construction land, aiming to put an end to malpractices with land repurposing in cities and municipalities that have already established an excessive number of construction and business zones.

For agricultural land outside the construction zone that is repurposed into construction land, a fee of 25 percent of the market price of land within the construction area will be charged, and if it is high-quality land, that fee will amount to 50 percent of the land price.

If it concerns the repurposing of agricultural land already within the construction zone, that fee will amount to 2.5 percent of the market price of land in the construction zone, and if it is high-value land, 5 percent of the price.

The money collected from such fees will be divided between the state (70 percent) and local government units (30 percent).