The European Commission has granted Croatia an extension of the 18-month deadline for using up more than €1 billion in funding from the European Union Solidarity Fund earmarked for financing the reconstruction in the wake of two devastating earthquakes that hit the country in 2020 and 2021, state agency Hina said on Friday.

“Today, the Commission has decided to exceptionally grant Croatia the possibility to extend until 30 June 2023 the deadline for the use of the financial contribution from the EU Solidarity Fund to compensate for the damage of the earthquakes that severely hit the country in 2020 and 2021,” the Commission announced on Friday.

Croatia had been allocated more than €1 billion from the Solidarity Fund to remedy the damage caused by earthquakes that struck Zagreb in March 2020 and the Sisak-Moslavina County in late December 2020 and in January 2021. The usual deadline to use this funding is 18 months, which means that the deadline was set to expire in June this year.

According to local media, only a small percentage of this funding was actually spent within this timeframe, mostly because of red tape. Hina did not clarify how much of the €1 billion in funding was exactly spent to date. But Friday’s announcement means that Croatia would get another 12 months to try and do something with the money allotted.

Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, met with Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, in February this year, after which it was announced that the deadline would be “exceptionally” extended for another year. The Commission has never before extended the 18-month deadline.

“Croatia was hit twice by strong earthquakes, first in Zagreb and then in the city of Petrinja and the Sisak-Moslavina county. All of that happened during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, considerably hampering the recovery efforts. Ensuring that Croatia can fully benefit from the financial support from the EU Solidarity Fund for the reconstruction of the two regions is of utmost importance for the population and a sign of strong and concrete solidarity by the European Union,” said Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.