The European Commission has approved an additional €530 million for jobkeeping measures in Croatia to come from the European Social Fund within the framework of the Efficient Human Resources 2014 - 2020 operational programme.

According to a press release from the European Commission, the additional €530 million is intended to save jobs during the pandemic and in the aftermath of two destructive earthquakes that have strongly impacted Croatia’s economy.

Funds from the REACT-EU package will be used to save jobs for about 280,000 people in sectors that have been disproportionately affected by the crisis, such as accommodation and food production.

The new REACT-EU package is part of the NextGenerationEU which has a budget of €50.6 billion of additional funds for cohesion policy programmes. The funds are earmarked as support for the labour market’s resilience, employment, SME’s and for low-income families, and to build a tenable foundation for green and digital transition and sustainable socio-economic recovery.