Commissioner tells Croatia there's no time to relax on EU-funded projects

  • Photo /Vijesti/2015/siječanj/30 siječanj/JKP_4294.jpg

European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu on Friday called on Croatia not to slacken its pace in preparing projects eligible for European Union funding after the country had made huge efforts to prepare and conclude a Partnership Agreement with the European Commission and adopt the "Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014 - 2020".

The European Commissioner held a meeting with Croatia's Deputy Prime Minister responsible for regional development and EU funds, Branko Grcic, and representatives of the state administration and local self-government units as well as officials from development agencies, the financial sector and nongovernmental organisations.

Addressing the participants in the meeting, who are stakeholders in the EU funds' allocation, Commissioner Cretu recalled that ten billion euros was put at Croatia's disposal in the 2014-2020 period, and it was up to the country how much it would make use of the available funds.

I encourage the Government to launch dialogue with local communities on projects suitable for co-financing, she said.

Having in mind that Croatia is an EU newcomer, the commissioner recommended that the country use EU-funded technical assistance in an effort to apply for funding with well-prepared projects.

This may help Croatia to solve a part of problems arising from the fact that its clerks are still inexperienced in preparing projects eligible for EU funds, she explained.

EU funds offer a great opportunity and new hope, not only to Croatia, in terms of financing growth under conditions of strict fiscal restrictions, Cretu said.

Deputy PM Grcic said that currently EU-funded projects, worth five billion kuna, were being implemented in Croatia and that an additional 30 projects of equal worth were in the pipeline.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.7)

(Hina) ms



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