Ravenšćak: There is no competition that favors Slavonia, it would be counterproductive for the Government

The recent statement by Member of Parliament Sonja Čikotić from the Most Independent Lists, claiming that the Government’s ‘Project Slavonia’ does not actually exist and is merely a PR balloon, has raised questions about how well this project truly functions in reality. We asked for the opinion of Robert Ravenšćak, the owner and director of the consulting firm Ravecon, who noted that we should be cautious as this is a statement from an opposition politician.

>>> Sonja Čikotić: Project Slavonia does not exist, it is a PR balloon

This EU funds expert states that her claim that the area of all five Slavonian counties ‘does not have any additional points when applying for competitions’ is not accurate, but he confirmed her words that ‘there is not a single selection criterion that favors that area, and there are no competitions that only Slavonians can apply for.’ He pointed out that companies from less developed areas do receive additional points, but this does not refer to the counties that Čikotić speaks of, but rather to the cities and municipalities, which have varying levels of development within each county.

– For example, Vukovar is in Slavonia, but a company from that city will receive additional points in the competition and will be at a solid advantage compared to a company from Zagreb. Of course, this does not mean that a Vukovar company will always win the competition while a Zagreb company will not – explained Ravenšćak.

>>> A third of the planned EU funds contracted for Project Slavonia so far

On the other hand, there are not such differences between Osijek and Zagreb, which means that a company from Osijek will not have a special advantage over a Zagreb company. It is true, however, that there is not a single criterion that favors Slavonia, which someone could conclude from the ‘Project Slavonia’, as this is practically impossible unless the ruling coalition wants to lose political points. Namely, he notes, in that case ‘the Dalmatinians, Istrians, Zagorci…’ would rise up, which would be counterproductive for the government. Therefore, it is also unclear how the Croatian Government arrived at the figure of 2.5 billion euros for ‘Project Slavonia’, so Ravenšćak also believes it is a good PR move by the Government.