Maximum Guarantee Amount in the ‘ESIF Guarantees’ Program Increased to 10 Million Euros

The government raised the maximum amount of individual guarantees from the "ESIF Guarantees" program of the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment, from four to ten million euros.

The condition is that for guarantees exceeding four million euros, a maximum of 50 percent of the principal of the loan/leasing is guaranteed.

Minister of Economy Tomislav Ćorić stated that increasing the guarantee amounts is necessary as the previous amount proved insufficient for larger capital investments, which resulted in banks approving a smaller percentage of guarantees or being forced to split the investment into two loans to ensure adequate coverage.

The government’s decision explanation notes that under the ‘ESIF Guarantees’ program of the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment, 475 guarantees have been approved so far, totaling 1.8 billion kuna.

Preparation for Transition to Clean Energy

The government has also sent to the Parliament the final proposal for the Electricity Market Act, which prepares the transition to clean energy.

The Electricity Market Act adopts the EU directive from 2019 on common rules for the internal electricity market.

– Principles for a seamless transition to a sustainable energy system with low carbon emissions are being established, aiming for its decarbonization, and the energy transition to clean energy is being prepared. Furthermore, more favorable conditions for electric vehicles are being created, and the introduction of publicly available and private charging stations for electric vehicles is mandated – said Minister Ćorić.

Customers are also offered the opportunity to directly participate in the production, consumption, and sharing of electricity, and free market competition is encouraged, as well as cross-border access to new electricity suppliers.

As one of the energy activities, aggregation is introduced through the possibility of changing suppliers and using multiple suppliers under certain conditions.

The independent system operator HOPS is required, the minister said, to organize itself based on this law as a joint-stock company instead of a limited liability company as it has been so far.

Extension of Exploration Period for Vermilion

The government has extended the exploration period by one year for the purpose of researching and exploiting hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon exploration area "SA-10", which includes Vukovar-Srijem and smaller parts of Brod-Posavina and Osijek-Baranja counties, to the company Vermilion Zagreb Exploration.

The COVID pandemic halted some activities, so Vermilion did not fully meet the minimum contractual work obligation and must complete seismic recording and create an exploration well.

The force majeure period caused by the pandemic lasted from March 18 to July 15, 2020, while the II exploration phase period for the hydrocarbon exploration area "SA-10" expires on October 8, 2021.

According to the law, the exploration period lasts a maximum of five years and is divided into two exploration phases, with the first lasting three years and the second two years. The exploration period can be extended at the investor’s request for justified reasons a maximum of two times during its duration, with each extension lasting no more than six months.