Agreements for personal assistance services for disabled presented

Seventy-four Croatian associations of disabled persons on Thursday were awarded agreements to implement 74 projects valued at about 13.6 million euros, to be financed by the European Social Fund (ESF).

The projects are aimed at developing personal assistance services for persons with disabilities.

The agreements were presented by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Minister of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy Nada Murganic, and Minister of Labour and Pension System Tomislav Coric. Among those attending was Ombudswoman for Persons with Disabilities Anka Slonjsak.

"I believe all these agreements will be of benefit to you and will help you in your everyday lives, in social integration. I promise you that during our term in office we will try to help you whenever we can, at any level of government," PM Plenkovic said.

He announced that next Thursday, after a Cabinet meeting, Murganic would unveil a national strategy for persons with disabilities, including the legal framework and financing.

Disabled people should be completely integrated in the country's social life, the PM said. "That's part of our programme and our obligation. Over 500,000 of our fellow citizens live in such circumstances and as many as 80 million across the EU," he added.

"I believe this money -- 115 million kuna (from the ESF), plus 39 million kuna from the state budget -- will be very useful in practice in providing personal assistance services," PM Plenkovic said.

Murganic said that under these agreements 1,486 disabled persons in Croatia would be using personal assistance services this year, adding that such services would make it easier for persons with disabilities to meet their everyday needs.

Murganic said that these agreements would expire in two years, after which news funds would be absorbed from the EU as part of projects agreed for the period 2016-2020.

Coric expressed satisfaction with successful completion of the tender.

Text: Hina

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