Brussels, 24 July 2023
Croatia’s third payment request for €700 million (net of pre-financing) relates to 32 milestones and 13 targets. They cover investments in areas such as flood protection, recycling of municipal waste, digitalisation of administrative, medical and judicial services, energy renovation of buildings, sustainable, green and digital tourism, the purchase of seismic equipment and the construction of the cable ferry Križnica. The payment request also includes a series of reforms to promote the uptake of renewable energy sources, and improve the management in the water, waste, maritime and tourism sectors, the latter with the emphasis on sustainability. Further reforms relate to the areas of public procurement, higher education, health, the labour market, including tackling of undeclared work, and the setting up of an online one-stop-shop which covers both post-earthquake reconstruction and energy efficiency of buildings.
Croatia’s overall recovery and resilience plan will be financed by €5.51 billion in grants.
Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Croatia implementing the investments and reforms outlined in its recovery and resilience plan.
The Commission will now assess the request and will then send its preliminary assessment of Croatia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee.
More information on the process of the payment requests under the RRF is available in this Q&A. More information on the Croatia recovery and resilience plan is available here.
Source – EU Commission