PM speaks with EU leaders on financing Croatia in H2 2013

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Wednesday spoke with several European leaders about how Croatia would be financed in the first six months of its membership of the European Union as part of the debate to amend this year's EU budget.

"The European Union needs to come to an agreement amongst its members on how Croatia is to be financed after 1 July 2013 and an amendment to the budget still has not adopted. This is a technical matter but it will certainly be resolved and that is what I discussed with some of the most important stakeholders, prime ministers who are discussing the matter", Milanovic said after the EU summit meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

The European Commission in March proposed an amendment to the EU 2013 budget to take into account Croatia's accession July 1. The proposal recommends that Croatia be allocated EUR 665.1 million in commitments and EUR 374 in payments for the first six months. Croatia's contribution to the EU budget would be EUR 211.9 million. These amounts are noted in Croatia's accession treaty and are not in question.

The budget amendment has not been agreed to yet. The European Parliament has said that the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 would be adopted if all member states agreed to increase this year's budget by EUR 11.2 billion to cover commitments.

EU leaders today discussed tax evasion and energy, Milanovic said. As far as the topic of energy is concerned, Croatia is in particular interested in the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) which would supply gas from the Caspian Sea, he said.

(Hina)



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