EUR 590 million from IPA fund intended for Croatia in 2007-2010 period

From 2007 to 2010 Croatia will be able to use EUR 590 million from the European Union's IPA pre-accession assistance programme, of which EUR 190 million is intended for regional policy, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Huebner said in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Huebner was speaking to reporters after meeting the Croatian Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, Bozidar Kalmeta, and the State Secretary in the Central Office for the Development Strategy, Martina Dalic.

This is the first time EU membership candidates have a whole programme available in the process of accession to the European Union, Huebner said.
The IPA programme replaces the CARDS, PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programmes and its purpose is to assist candidate countries and potential candidates in gradually harmonising their legislation with the acquis communautaire.

Croatia will be able to use the IPA programme from 2007 until its accession to the bloc.

The European Commission and the Croatian government have agreed a seven-year plan for regional cohesion, the main challenges being elaboration of operational plans in the areas of transport, the environment and regional competitiveness, Huebner said.

We have identified the main challenges facing Croatia and the European Commission. It is very important to strengthen the administrative capacity, not just at central administration level but also at local level, she added.

It is in the interests of us all to make the Croatian structures capable of accepting and using pre-accession funds, Kalmeta said.

Kalmeta said that the talks also focused on how to draw as much money as possible from the pre-accession funds and on training administrative personnel at all levels for using those funds, while Huebner added that they also discussed promotion of investment security and investor confidence in Croatia.

I hope that the continuation of successful negotiations on EU membership will improve the confidence of foreign investors and boost investment in new technologies and development for the prosperity of your country, Huebner said.

Kalmeta also said that, considering regional differences in GDP within the country, the European Commission and Croatia would aim to reduce such differences to a minimum. (Hina)

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