Croatia seen as very successful in drawning funds from EU IPA 2007

Croatia has signed with the European Commission 74 contracts worth EU 36.84 million as part of Component I of the IPA 2007 EU pre-accession programme, which provides assistance in transition and institution building, drawing 92.22 per cent of the EUR 39.95 million approved for Croatia, Finance Minister Ivan Suker said at a press conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The conference was held to mark the expiry of the deadline for signing contracts under Component I of the IPA 2007 programme.

The head of the EU Delegation in Zagreb, Paul Vandoren, said that the results were extremely positive, citing good and timely preparation of documents and good cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and other ministries and institutions.

Suker said that contracts had been signed for the implementation of all 15 projects envisaged by a financial agreement signed between the EU and Croatia, and that considerable economies had been made during public tender processes as lower prices were obtained than those envisaged by the agreement.

Among the contracts signed, Suker cited a project to establish a computerised border management system (worth EUR 5.43 million, of which EUR 4.12 million will be covered by the EU), a project to strengthen the capacity of the national anti-corruption office USKOK (worth EUR 1.25 million, of which EUR 1.24 million will be covered by the EU), a project for combating drug smuggling and drug abuse (worth EUR 1.63 million, of which EUR 1.47 million will be covered by the EU), a project to establish the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development (worth EUR 5.71 million, of which EUR 5.39 million will be covered by the EU), and a project to improve inter-agency cooperation in combating corruption (worth EUR 2.24 million, of which EUR 2.20 million will be covered by the EU).

The deadline for signing contracts under the IPA 2007 programme expired on November 17. The deadline for the completion of the projects is November 17, 2012, and the deadline for the execution of all payments is November 17, 2013.

When asked to make a general assessment of the functioning of the Croatian institutions whose transition was financially supported by the EU, Vandoren said that the European Commission's last Progress Report was positive and that it stated that Croatia had made progress in most of the analysed areas.

When it becomes a member of the EU, Croatia will have access to much greater funds and will need to additionally improve the work of the central and local government, Vandoren said.