- Published: 06.11.2014.
Gov't proposes extending list of local units entitled to state aid
The government on Thursday sent to parliament a bill on regional development which envisages that a total of 264 units of local self-government will be entitled to government support due to their underdevelopment, and those 264 units include 100 units that have not received such assistance so far
Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development and EU Minister Branko Grcic said at today's government's meeting that the new categorisation of underdeveloped units of local self-government "will not cost the state budget a single kuna."
The amount allocated by the government for underdeveloped areas is HRK 1.1 billion and it will not be changed, he explained.
The new categorisation is based on a development index and will encompass 100 new local units, the development of which is below 75% of the national average development and which have not received any state aid so far, Grcic said.
On the other hand, 65 units that have received some sort of assistance from the state budget in the last 15 years are already above that 75% threshold, which is why Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that the new categorisation constituted "a policy of solidarity".
The bill also envisages three categories of urban areas: urban agglomeration, larger urban areas and smaller urban areas.
Urban agglomeration areas are wider areas around the four biggest cities: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek.
Larger urban areas are cities with a population of more than 35,000, and smaller urban areas are towns and county seats with over 15,000 inhabitants.