Today, the Commission has positively assessed Croatia's seventh payment request for €1.1 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility , the cornerstone of NextGenerationEU. This assessment marks a significant step towards the disbursement of EU funds to bolster Croatia's economic growth and resilience efforts.
The Commission found that Croatia delivered reforms and investments benefitting citizens and businesses, focusing on the key areas of social services, labour market, business environment, digitalisation of government services, energy, transport, water and waste management as well as capital market development and academic collaboration. These accomplishments have enabled Croatia to fulfil the 22 milestones and 31 targets associated with the 7th payment under its recovery and resilience plan.
Flagship measures covered by Croatia's payment request include the upgrade of the high-voltage network, strengthening the grid connections, better connecting the south-north grid in the country and increasing the uptake of renewable energy sources. 300 km of high voltage power line have been built or upgraded, alongside with 40 000 electricity smart meters, which will enhance the digitalisation and efficiency of Croatia's energy system.
Croatia has also adopted its first Strategic Framework and Action Plan to accelerate the development of its national capital market, while pursuing the integration of the national stock exchange with other regional exchanges. Further measures to develop the capital markets focus on attracting institutional investors by digitalising core services and broadening financing sources.
The reform infuses new momentum into Croatia's long-standing priority of improving access to finance, thereby contributing to its future competitiveness and growth.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Croatia's fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Croatia can take place following the EFC's opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.
Background
Croatia's recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed by €10 billion, of which €5.8 billion in grants and €4.2 billion in loans.
You can find more information on Croatia's Recovery and Resilience plan on this page , which features an interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard
