Deputy PM expects positive net score with EU

Croatia could achieve a positive net score with the European Union of close to HRK 1 billion, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Branko Grcic told reporters after a government session on Thursday.
 

He said data for the first four months of this year showed that Croatia paid EUR 222 million into the European Union budget and absorbed EUR 341 million, resulting in a gain of EUR 119 million, or HRK 895 million.

Grcic once again refuted claims that Croatia had utilised few of the financial advantages offered by EU membership, saying the incumbent government was markedly more successful than previous ones in drawing EU funds.

He said the projects financed from pre-accession funds that had been contracted under the incumbent government were worth EUR 350 million, while previous governments had contracted projects worth EUR 247 million in four years. He said EUR 266 million had been paid from EU funds from the beginning of 2012 through April this year, as against EUR 127 million in the four years before.

Grcic also said that the government today defined deadlines for contracting 16 large infrastructure projects and 13 grant schemes totalling HRK 8.1 billion. Most of the deadlines are July 2015. He said this could be the foundation of an investment wave in Croatia.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)

(Hina)
 

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