Croatia to Receive EUR 147 Million Annually Through IPA

Croatia will have an average EUR 147 million annually over the next three years via the European Union's Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), the chief of the European Commission Delegation to Croatia, Vincent Degert, told the press on Tuesday.

As of 2007, this new instrument will replace the CARDS, PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programs and assist EU accession candidates and potential candidates adjust to the Union's acquis communautaire.

Degert said the EU had secured EUR 589.9 million for Croatia until 2010, an average EUR 147 million per year.

Croatia will also receive EUR 10-15 million annually for regional and horizontal programs and the Taiex technical assistance instrument, he added.

Degert said Croatia's annual assistance could even exceed EUR 160 million annually if it showed good absorption capacity.

The state secretary at the State office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds, Martina Dalić, said IPA was viewed as preparation for participation in EU structural funds to which a country is entitled upon joining the Union.

Assistance within IPA is divided into five components -- transition assistance and institution building, trans-border cooperation, regional development, human resources development, and rural development.

The EC will make a final decision on the allocation of funds after Croatia draws up national plans for each component, Dalić said, adding that selected projects would partly be financed from the national budget.

Announcements