Kroatië kan rekenen op 3,5 miljard euro steun na toetreding in 2012 (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has proposed setting aside €3.5 billion of regional, agriculture and administrative aid for Croatia's first two years of EU membership, provided the country manages to join the bloc in 2012. The earmarked sum still needs the approval of the 27 member states.
The commission proposal starts with the 'working hypothesis' that the former Yogoslav country will join the EU in "January 2012", based on the "overall progress" achieved so far in accession negotiations.
Similar proposals were adopted in the pre-accession phase of the other 12 countries which joined in 2004 and 2007. The document only refers to 2012 and 2013, the last two years of the current seven-year EU budget. From 2014 onwards, Croatia will be part of the next multi-annual financial framework.
During these two years, the bulk of the money - €2.3 billion in so-called structural funds - would go to local and regional projects in infrastructure and small and medium enterprises. Croatian farmers would receive some €680 million, while programmes involving the country's judiciary and police would get €170 million.
A further roughly €200 million would be set aside for so-called temporary budgetary compensations and cash-flow facilities to avoid the country becoming a net contributor to the EU budget in the first two years of accession.
The sum of €3.5 billion represents little over one percent of what the 27 member states pay to the EU budget in 2012 and 2013. Croatia itself would also make its contribution to the common pot: €609 million in the first and €647 million in the second year after accession.
The 'financial package' needs to be approved by member states and the European Parliament, in order for the accession negotiations to be carried out in the field of regional policy, agriculture, justice and home affairs.
From the Croatian side, the proposals were welcomed as being 'in line' with their expectations and a clear signal that Zagreb was going to join in 2012. But reforms are still outstanding.
Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor promised on Wednesday to launch next year a set of long-needed measures to secure public finances and prepare it for EU membership.
"The whole country should understand these are challenging times and prepare the institutions for accession," Natko Vlahovic the Brussels representative of the Croatian SME chamber told this website.
Funds freeze
Since a border dispute with neigbouring EU member state Slovenia was settled last month, the main sticking point in Croatia's negotiations remains the reform of the judiciary and the fight against organised crime.
The experience of the EU with its newcomer Bulgaria, where rampant corruption and organised crime networks had an impact on the use of community funds, is likely to have consequences on Croatia as well.
German centre-right MEP Markus Ferber, a long-time critic of Bulgaria and Romania's track record in dealing with graft and criminal networks, said that the former Yugoslav country may also face "funds freeze" as it was the case with Sofia last year.
"We have learned from Romania and Bulgaria's accession how to introduce protection mechanisms in the Accession Treaty and how to formulate them so that they are useful. I think something similar will be applied to Croatia as well," he told this website.
"Bulgaria's example shows that structural funds can be suspended if the required control mechanisms are failing. The whole system must rely on a strong and efficient judiciary, and here we see that the Bulgarians are still working on it," Mr Ferber added.