Croatia applies to EC for second €700m tranche under NRRP

Croatia on Monday applied to the European Commission for the disbursement of a second instalment of €700 million as part of funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in his opening remarks at a cabinet meeting. 

This is a logical step after Croatia carried out 25 set reforms in the first half of the year and was among the member states that did so most quickly and efficiently, the PM said.

He noted that Croatia was the third EU country, after Spain and Italy, to complete the necessary reforms in the first half of the year and apply for funding.

After receiving an advance payment of €800 million and the first €700 million tranche paid out a few months ago, Croatia has now requested a second tranche of €700 million, Plenković said, recalling that tenders worth HRK 15 billion (€2bn) are being implemented as part of the NRRP.

The implementation of reforms will continue in this semester as well so that we can apply for additional funding in the middle of the next semester, which will help boost the GDP, the PM said.

Croatia has access to a maximum €6.3 billion in grants from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility to finance reforms and related investments set out in the NRRP. The NRRP was finalised in April 2021, approved by the Commission in July, and Croatia received an advance payment of €818 million already in September 2021.

Text: Hina

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