As much as sixty percent of Croatian EU projects fail at the first step

European funds should be understood as one of the sources of financing but also as an indicator of readiness for business, emphasized Member of the European Parliament Ivana Maletić. Until now, the situation in this field has been very poor, and one of the reasons is ineffective public administration.

She stated this in the Croatian Radio show Business Week where the topic was the state of drawing money from EU funds as a driver of economic growth.

Private EU funds consultant Marija Tufekčić points out that the situation in the market is quite disorganized. The process of project development is quite complex, she emphasizes, but everything can be learned.

– Writing a good project is not easy; there are many immature consultants who, due to their ignorance, harm the project proposers. Because of this, as much as 60% of projects are rejected in the administrative check, before the quality check itself. All of this could be organized by certifying consultants, she said.

There has been a long consideration of certification, emphasized Ivana Maletić, but to this day it has not been implemented because it is very difficult to determine the criteria. Therefore, she proposes that at least the references of consultants be published so that proposers know who they are working with. When it comes to the success of drawing funds, we are not doing well, she says. This is not her subjective opinion, she emphasizes, but data from the State Audit Office which shows that Croatia is in the negative. The previous data from the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds has not been transparent, and because of this, there are heated debates on this topic, she points out.

The government must accelerate the contracting process, reduce the significant backlog that has occurred in the past two years, and in the years ahead, much more must be contracted, is the stance of both guests. Ivana Maletić emphasized that the government will intensively pursue projects to enter the positive in 2018 and 2019. Before those years, this will not be possible as only half of what was planned has been drawn so far, she emphasized. Marija Tufekčić warned that it is necessary to reduce the administrative burden and procedure, which Brussels itself has also recommended.

To remove politics from the story about funds, it is necessary to make data public to end speculation, and it is also necessary to emphasize excellence and quality, says Maletić. Until now, there has been no continuity, the system changes too much, and this is unacceptable. Quality people should not be removed. Great hopes are placed in the new minister Tomislav Tolušić who has already proven himself in this field. As the main problems, Marija Tufekčić highlighted over-administration, inflexibility of the system, and the creation of poor tenders.