EU council agrees funds for Croatia for 1st 6 months of membership

Finance ministers on Thursday morning adopted amendments to the European Union's budget for this year to provide the EU budget 2013 with the necessary resources for the accession of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July. As a result, the budget will be increased by EUR 655 million designated for Croatia for the rest of this year.

"The Council agreed to increase the EU budget for 2013 by a total of EUR 655.1 million in commitments and EUR 374 million in payments in order to cover the pledges made at the accession conference of 30 June 2011," according to a press release issued on the EU web site after the Council of Finance Ministers made this decision.

The amended budget should now be greenlit by the European Parliament.

"With EUR 449.4 million in commitments and EUR 149.8 million in payments the bulk of the additional funds serves to reduce disparities in the level of development of Croatia's regions with other areas of the EU through cohesion policy."

(Hina)



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