The European Commission on Thursday gave a positive preliminary assessment of Croatia's payment request for €700 million of grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

The RRF is the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was quoted as saying that good news for Croatia.

“Croatia has made sufficient progress on its recovery and resilience plan to receive a second payment under NextGenerationEU. Once Member States give their greenlight, Croatia will receive €700 million,” the EC President said.

She praised Croatia for having taken important steps towards the green and digital transitions “for instance with major investments in public water management, and improved adult education to develop green and digital skills.”

On 19 September, Zagreb submitted to the Commission a payment request based on the achievement of the 25 milestones and targets selected in the Council Implementing Decision for the second instalment.

Fulfillment of 25 milestones and targets

They cover transformative reforms in the areas of public administration, the judiciary, social policy, employment, education, skills, energy, energy efficiency, and connectivity.

Several targets also concern major investments in the fields of water management, labour market, education, social and justice system, as well as for the environmental and digital transitions of public authorities, SMEs and mid-cap companies.

With their request, the Croatian authorities provided detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the fulfilment of the 25 milestones and targets. The Commission has thoroughly assessed this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment of the payment request.

The Croatian recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures in six thematic components.

The plan will be supported by €5.5 billion in grants, €818 million of which was disbursed to Croatia in pre-financing on 28 September 2021. Moreover, a first payment worth €700 million was disbursed to Croatia on 28 June 2022.

Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Member States implementing the investments and reforms outlined in their respective recovery and resilience plans.

The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment of Croatia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), asking for its opinion.

Following the EFC’s opinion, which should be provided in the next four weeks, the Commission will adopt the final decision on the disbursement of the financial contribution.