Vincent Degert, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Republic of Croatia
Five Stars Croatia Issue 3 — April 01, 2008.

Croatia’s accession negotiations with the EU enter a decisive phase in 2008. This is only 13 years after the war ended and 10 years after Croatia gained full sovereignty over its entire territory.

Croatia is demonstrating with its progress to the Western Balkan as a whole that the European perspective, leading eventually to EU membership, is indeed real and tangible. To prepare Croatia and the other countries in the region for that ultimate goal, the EU has provided various political and financial instruments.

As the previous enlargement process has shown, these instruments have proven to be an invaluable support to the countries for thorough accession preparation. The financial pre-accession assistance played a specific supporting role in strengthening the administrative capacity of the countries, allowing them to ripe the full benefits of their integration.

The nature and amount of EU assistance to Croatia since 1991 have evolved over the time and reflect the specific circumstances Croatia had to cope with: from humanitarian aid during the war (ECHO), to post-war reconstruction and socio economic rehabilitation since 1996 (OBNOVA). Eventually, with Croatia becoming a candidate country, the focus has turned to preparing the country for successful participation in the EU Structural and Cohesion funds (CARDS, PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD and IPA).

Financial support to Croatia reflects also the deepening of relations between Croatia and the EU. A milestone was the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in October 2001, entering into force in February 2005. It is the first contractual relationship between Croatia and the EU. The implementation of its financial instrument, CARDS, has gradually moved from the central management in Brussels to the responsibility of the Croatian authorities.

Between 1991 and 1999, the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) allocated - 241 million for assistance to refugees, displaced persons and other vulnerable groups. After the conflict had ended, between 1998 and 2000, the EU provided assistance to the reconstruction of houses and infrastructure, as well as to the economic revitalisation of the war torn areas. Further, and particular important, the EU was co-financing a very successful demining project.

Between 2001 and 2004, Croatia received - 260 million worth of assistance under the CARDS programme. The main objective of this programme was democratic stabilisation and institution strengthening. Hereby, the European Commission took Croatia's European ambitions into consideration from the very beginning. This included assistance to the areas of special state concern (i.e. underdeveloped areas) through investments based on regional operational programmes. This assistance was equivalent to the support for economic and social cohesion to the ten former candidate countries that acceded to the EU in 2004.

After Croatia had been granted candidate country status (June 2004) the European Commission, during 2005 and 2006, allocated - 245 million to Croatia under the pre-accession programmes PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD. Besides supporting gradual adjustment of the Croatian legislation to the acquis and administrative capacity building, those programmes are especially aimed at preparing Croatia for the participation in the most expensive EU policies, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy.

From 2007 until its accession to the EU, Croatia will be receiving assistance through IPA which will allow for investments amounting to around - 150 million per year. 

The integrated approach under the IPA Programme is visible in the structure of assistance incorporated within five components: assistance in transition and institution building; cross-border cooperation; regional development; human resources development and rural development.

IPA will also prepare Croatia for the European Cohesion Policy. It will cover investments in areas such as transport infrastructure and environment protection (which corresponds to the future Cohesion Fund), the development of the social sector, employment and education (to be continued under the European Social Fund), economic development of the underdeveloped areas and cross-border co-operation (to be taken over by the European Regional Development Fund), as well as rural development (which will be transformed into the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development). 

Thus, IPA is an instrument to prepare Croatia for the implementation and management of the future EU cohesion policy. It is a useful "learning by doing" exercise as both, the EU and Croatia's objective is to ensure that Croatia will have the institutional, administrative and budgetary capacity in place in due time to participate in that policy.

Notwithstanding that impressive progress, Croatia has still to cope with the legacy of the war. In particular, the presence of mines and unexploded ordinances is still, and could be for some time, a hampering factor for the economic development. So far the EU has provided - 25 million for de-mining. To date, Croatia has achieved mine clearance of the road network, tourist destinations like the famous National Plitvice Lakes, public facilities, as well as arable land used for everyday living. Although there is a considerable decrease of the number of mine victims since 1998, sporadic incidents (mostly due to inattentiveness) indicate that overall security is not fully and everywhere ensured yet, since 2 per cent of the whole territory is still mine suspected.

Looking ahead, the year 2008 will be of crucial importance for Croatia's accession process, not only with regard to the ongoing reforms in the various sectors (judiciary, public administration, social systems, etc.). The year 2008 has also symbolic significance with regard to the EU assistance to Croatia. In 2008 the total amount of community assistance allocated to Croatia since its independence in 1991 will reach - 1 billion. This illustrates that the EU stands ready to continue to support the reform and modernisation objectives of Croatia such that, eventually, the country can be welcomed as the 28th EU Member State.