Seven Croatian cities to receive 345 mln euro from EU funds

An agreement on conducting delegated activities, signed at government headquarters on Thursday, will provide Croatia's seven largest cities with a total of 345 million euro from three EU funds.

The agreement relates to the implementation of the Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) mechanism and is part of the Competitiveness and Cohesion operational programme. Its signing is the first step toward decentralising the system for the management and control of the use of the European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Funds, with a part of these functions being delegated to the city level.

The purpose of the ITI mechanism is the urbanisation of less developed areas surrounding these cities and implementation of projects in those cities aimed at strengthening their economic development and social awareness through investments for growth and jobs.

The agreement was signed by Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Zalac and the mayors of Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Slavonski Brod, Zadar and Zagreb and the government's commissioner for Split.

ITI is a new EU tool introduced in the Common Provision Regulation (CPR) for use during the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) programming period. Its aim is to make it easier to run territorial strategies that need funding from different sources. ITI also promotes a more local or 'place-based' form of policy making.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic attended the signing ceremony and said that this was yet another confirmation of the use of concrete European funds.

"I think it is a very good message that the largest cities are getting 345 million euro to finance priority projects in their own development plans and advance their development that way," he said.

Zalac underscored that this was the first time Croatia was using the ITI mechanism aimed at empowering cities as the drivers of economic development.

"The mechanism's objective is to promote sustainable urban development and cooperation between local government units," she added.

Zagreb, being the largest city, will be given 126 million euro, Split 54 million, Rijeka 49 million, Osijek 39 million, Zadar 27 million, Pula 25 million and Slavonski Brod 24 million.

Labour and Pension Minister Tomislav Coric added that a significant portion of the funds would be used to promote and increase employability and access to social services.

All the mayors underscored that this was the first time they would be able to determine on their own what the funds would be used for, describing it as a good example of decentralisation.

 

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