Resource information
Signing the accession treaty with the
European Union (EU) and its forthcoming membership to the EU
are remarkable opportunities for Croatia to address a number
of economic challenges and join the EU as a competitive and
successful economy. The new Croatian government in its
program for 2011-2015 seeks higher standards of living for
its citizens through sustained economic growth and greater
social cohesion. Given the legacies from the past, these
tasks will require ambitious and credible policy decisions.
Once it joins the EU, Croatia will also have to contribute
to the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth which calls on member states to set
national targets in employment, innovation, education,
social inclusion and climate or energy. These targets will
also require concerted efforts in structural reforms by the
Government of Croatia. A major priority for the coming two
to three years will be to create fiscal space to absorb EU
funds and avoid being a net contributor to the EU. Upon
accession, the EU Structural and Cohesion funds available to
Croatia will exceed Euro 1.5 billion a year. At the same
time, Croatia will also be obliged to contribute about 680
million annually to the EU budget. A number of new member
states have found it a challenge to access and absorb EU
funds effectively and efficiently. This requires a lot of
preparatory work to get projects ready now for the time when
EU structural and cohesion funds can be accessed, as they
represent a huge increase over pre-accession funds and a
great opportunity to address Croatia's needs in
transport and environment, as well as in innovation and
modernization of production.
