President Zoran Milanovic's Energy Transition Council on Monday presented and submitted to the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry energy transition guidelines in line with the EU's Green Deal, the president's office said in a press release.

The guidelines refer to operational programmes for the 2021-27 EU budget and a plan for the absorption of money from the EU recovery fund with a view to encouraging reform, expediting investment and creating conditions for sustainable economic development in line with the Green Deal.

The guidelines say that Croatia must urgently adopt a national development strategy until 2030 which will be based on climate neutrality by 2050 and sustainable development with a focus on boosting domestic production, raising the efficiency of programming and simplifying procedures.

To that end, the Energy Transition Council proposes introducing a national evaluation performance model for all bodies which will be tied to the percentage of absorption of EU allocations.

The council also proposes upgrading the system of managing European structural and investment funds as well as stimulating green public procurement to stimulate green innovation in the economy.

The council believes that in 2012, besides utilising EU funds, it is necessary to stimulate investment in the energy renovation of buildings, which includes the reconstruction of Zagreb and its environs after the March earthquake as well as new construction, while taking energy poverty into account.

The guidelines analyse how to map the energy transition to the green and the digital, increase the use of renewables and make Croatian society as resilient as possible to climate change and other challenges, said Julije Domac, the president’s advisor on energy and climate.

“It’s necessary to make room for private initiatives so that European funds are not an end in themselves but a catalyst for development towards the green, the sustainable and the resilient,” he added.

The opportunity provided by the €22 billion in European funding “must not be yet another opportunity for corruption but for Croatia’s development in the right direction,” he said.

Asked how aligned these guidelines were with the government’s energy strategy, Domac said they were aligned with the European guidelines on a 60% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2030 as well as achieving climate neutrality by 2050. “These guidelines show how it should be done.”

The ministry said it was willing to cooperate, the press release said, adding that it was concluded that the council would continue to cooperate with the ministers, making recommendations for achieving a green and energy transition as soon as possible.