Croatia Must Utilise EU Funds Amounting to 320 Million Euros by Mid-2023

December the 20th, 2021 - The Republic of Croatia has an enormous 320 million euros coming to it by the end of 2021, and it must utilise it in full by mid-2023, by June of that year to be more precise. With Petrinja still shamefully waiting for redevelopment and reconstruction almost one entire year since the devastating earthquake struck, there's no time like the present.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Darko Horvat, said that Croatia is absolutely ready to accept EU grants which will be spent on reconstructing Petrinja following 2020's earthquake. He said this when in conversation with Dnevnik after MEPs approved the provision at the December the 14th plenary session in which assistance to Croatia in the amount of 320 million euros was agreed upon. The enormous sum will go to repairing the damage caused by the natural disasters of 2020.

"Given the considerable experience we've gained in preparing the applications for repairing the damage from the Zagreb earthquake (which struck in March 2020), we've encouraged the end users of these funds to start drafting project documentation. What's especially important now, given that the implementing bodies are ready to accept the funds, is that at the beginning of 2022 we expect the announcement of the first public calls,'' said Horvat.

Based on the aforementioned decision, Croatia is being provided with a financial envelope of 320 million euros, including the already paid advance of 41.3 million euros. The payment of the remaining part, a sum close to 280 million euros, is expected by the end of the year. Out of a total of about 17 billion euros in estimated earthquake damage, direct damage to the Banovina area is estimated to stand at about 5.5 billion.

As the damage is far greater than the expected FSEU aid can cover, the planned distribution of aid will be largely focused on eligible costs already incurred, as well as projects already contracted or those with certain costs and deadline security. According to available data, of the already incurred or contracted costs of around 240 million euros, almost 80 million euros has been spent on operations eligible for funding from the FSEU. As for the deadline, as was the case with the previous procedure, it is 18 months from the payment of the total amount to the budget of the Republic of Croatia.

According to Minister Horvat and the national coordinating body for the implementation of earthquake remediation, if the payment is made before the end of 2021, the implementation deadline will be June 2023.