Croatia has received approval for the Competitiveness and Cohesion programme, the most generous cohesion policy programme for the period 2021-27, worth €5.2 billion, state news agency said in a news item which carried a press release issued by the government ministry in charge of EU funding.

“In August 2022 a Partnership Agreement between the European Commission and Croatia was adopted, and the document was signed in late September by European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, and Croatian Regional Development and EU Funds Minister, Natasa Tramisak, after which two programmes – the Competitiveness and Cohesion programme and the Integrated Territorial Programme – were submitted for approval, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds recalled in a statement on Thursday,” Hina said.

Under the Partnership Agreement, in the 2021-27 period, Croatia has the right to draw a total of €9 billion of cohesion policy funds.

The absorption of cohesion funds is based on four programmes, including two managed by the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry – Competitiveness and Cohesion, worth €5.2 billion, and the Integrated Territorial Programme, worth €1.57 billion.

“The 5.2 billion euros which we have secured access to will enable us to improve the standard of living and create a number of development opportunities, and for the first time we will have tools for undeveloped parts of Croatia and its mountainous regions. With the new cohesion policy funds we will ensure the growth and development of all parts of Croatia. Digitization, green transition and investment in transport connectivity is what will make Croatian citizens and the national economy stronger and more resilient to the challenges and changes of the turbulent era we live in,” Tramisak said.

“We will strengthen what has a direct impact on better living standards for our citizens – public services, healthcare, education, culture, and social services and, most importantly, we will do it evenly in all parts of Croatia,” Tramisak said, congratulating in her own press release “all stakeholders involved in the process of making the programme on a job well done.”