Croatia Manages to Access Just 21% of Available EU Funds

Statistics from the European Union reveal how Croatia has lacked the ability to access available EU funds…..

As part of the EU’s cohesion policy, Croatia had 815 million euros at its disposal between the period of 2007 – 2013, more than half of which (449.4 million euros), since it became a full member state in July last year. Daily Jutarnji list reports that Croatia has only managed to access just 21.7% of available fund. The average utilisation of EU member states was just over 67%, 3-times more than what Croatia managaed. The report goes onto say that the European Commission expects Croatia to markedly increase the amount of funds it accesses in the coming years.

More than 10 billion euros will be available to Croatia from structural and financial funds from 2014 – 2020. From that amount 8.3 billion will be set aside for investment in growth and jobs, and over 2 billion for rural and agriculture development. 280 million euro has been set aside for marine and fishing development and 66 million for youth employment.

Being part of a club is not all about taking, Croatia’s contribution to the EU’s 2013 budget was 211.9 million euro.