The candidate for the new minister of regional development and EU funds, Sime Erlic, told the state information platform Hina on Thursday he would present to MPs next week his plan for advancing the EU fund absorption system until 2027.

Erlic was nominated for the office yesterday by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to replace Nataša Tramisak.

He is currently the state secretary at the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry.

“I will present to members of parliament my plan for advancing the system of absorption of EU funds for the new 2021-2027 perspective and the way in which we can additionally contribute to an even regional development of Croatia,” Erlic said.

He thanked Plenkovic for the confidence as well as the presidency of the HDZ party and the ruling majority for their support.

“I have been in the system of EU funds long and the state secretary at the ministry the last two and a half years. I worked on program documents which define the priorities of investment from EU funds in the 2021-27 period.”

Erlic is the president of the HDZ’s Zadar city branch and a member of the Board of Directors of the Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investment.