Croatia has contracted €13.7 billion worth of projects from the 2014-20 EU budget and paid out €8.35 billion, or 78% of the allocation, the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry said on Wednesday, adding that 12 states are behind Croatia in EU fund absorption.

By 20 October, the spending of €6.90 billion of the allocation was verified, or 64%, the ministry said, adding that Minister Natasa Tramisak met with European Court of Auditors’ Croatian member Ivana Maletic and exchanged absorption data for 2021 and the first ten months of this year.

Tramisak commended the beneficiaries’ efforts to complete the contracted projects by the end of 2023, after which it will be seen how much Croatia has absorbed.

She said that since July 2020, the share of payments increased from 37% to 78% and that if this pace of payment and expenditure verification was maintained, Croatia could be among the most successful member states by the end of the 2014-20 financial framework.

The 12 states behind Croatia in fund absorption from that framework, according to the latest European Commission data, are Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Luxembourg, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Latvia, and the UK.