Up to 70 percent of the value of public investments can be covered by EU funds

The European Union offers Croatia substantial funds that can cover up to 70 percent of the value of potential public investments.

-Therefore, such projects should be viewed as national projects when planned, but as European projects when financed- said today Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Branko Grčić.

At the presentation of the European Commission’s Proposal for the Republic of Croatia related to the preparation and priorities of programming documents for the new EU budget period from 2014 to 2020, Grčić stated that this year more than half a billion euros is allocated for Croatia from EU funds, and from 2014 to 2020, between one billion and 1.1 billion euros annually.

However, he emphasized that in order for these funds to be utilized, projects must be prepared in accordance with programming documents, namely the Partnership Agreement and the Operational Program, which Croatia will submit to the European Commission for co-financing investment priorities within the new EU budget period from 2014 to 2020, and only such projects will have funding security from state or local budgets.

The European Commission’s proposal also addresses the structural challenges that Croatia should face through investments within all instruments of EU cohesion policy, namely the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

Among the challenges mentioned in this European Commission document, Grčić highlighted insufficient development of knowledge-based growth factors, low labor market participation, environmental protection, and ineffective public administration, and he emphasized these areas as points that are very important to incorporate into the strategic guidelines for Croatia’s future development.

Today’s gathering, which was also attended by the President of the Croatian Parliament Josip Leko, brought together around 300 representatives from numerous Croatian ministries, institutions, companies, and others.

Representatives of the European Commission from the Directorates-General for Employment, Regional Policy, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Fisheries presented the EC recommendations related to priority investment areas covered by the aforementioned proposal, while Croatian representatives reflected on the current state of the programming document preparation process.