European Affairs Committee discussed the Report on the Extraordinary meeting of the European Council

Zagreb - In accordance with the Act on the Co-Operation of the Croatian Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Croatia in European Affairs, the Government of the Republic of Croatia submitted a written Report on the Extraordinary meeting of the European Council held in Brussels from 17 to 21 July 2020. The Report was presented at the Committee’s session by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zdravko Marić.

The Deputy Prime Minister explained that an agreement had been reached on the European Commission's proposal of 27 May 2020, combining the revised Multiannual Financial Framework of EUR 1,100 billion and a specific Recovery effort under "Next Generation EU" up to the amount of EUR 750 billion which makes a total of € 1.850 billion for the EU's recovery and development.

In the next seven-year financial perspective, Croatia will have at its disposal around EUR 12.7 billion from the new MFF, and around EUR 9.395 billion from the Recovery Plan, or a total of just over EUR 22 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance mentioned as a special negotiating success - additional allocation provisions for Croatia in the amount of EUR 400 million within the framework of cohesion policy, through Annex item 65 of the adopted European Council Conclusions, which according to its wording refers to Croatia exclusively.

An additional EUR 100 million in Croatia's national envelope have been provided to support rural development. A special success is that the level of co-financing for projects in the ratio of 85:15 percent will be maintained as well as the N + 3 rule, which was especially important for Croatia. The Government is also satisfied with the ratio of grants and loans that will be available to Croatia under the Recovery Plan, especially under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, where the ratio is approximately 3 to 1 in favour of the grant. Croatia’s contribution to the 2021-2027 EU multiannual budget will be at close to EUR 4.6 billion in annual instalments of about EUR 650 million a year, which is almost five times less than the amount of funds that will be available to Croatia in the same period.

In conclusion, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance said that Croatia could be satisfied, but stressed that a lot of work lies ahead, given that the withdrawal of funds would depend on the National Recovery Plan, related to the European Semester. He announced that he would present the National Recovery Plan in the Croatian Parliament, at a joint session of the European Affairs Committee and the Finance and the State Budget Committee.