ZAGREB, 19 Nov 2021 - MEP Karlo Ressler (HDZ, EPP) on Friday told a press conference in Zagreb that Croatia will have a lot of benefit from the 2022 European budget, which was agreed by the European Commission and European Parliament on Monday.
The budget is the source of financing for all EU programmes in all member states and all European institutions and agencies.
"Croatia will benefit from practically all programmes," said Ressler, a member of the inner budget negotiating team for the 2022 budget
With regard to the commission's proposal in July, the budget has been increased by €480 million.
"In the end, we in the parliament can be satisfied with the agreement reached," said Ressler.
The priority of the 2022 European budget is to support the EU's recovery in the wake of the pandemic, he said.
The EP's priorities are recovery and competitiveness of SMEs with €613 million allocated for that purpose, followed by the Horizon Europe programme for science and innovation which has achieved a €100 million increase and is primarily focused on health and support to scientific systems, and finally the new EU4health programme which has been allocated €840 million.
The LIFE programme for climate action and environmental protection has achieved an increase of more than €50 million and one other traditional priority is the Erasmus+ programme for the young which has achieved a significant increase and has been allocated €3.4 billion, he said.
"A big increase has been foreseen for the fight against the global pandemic, of €125 million," said Ressler and recalled that the EU is the biggest exporter and donor of vaccines in the world.
Other funds are foreseen for humanitarian aid, primarily to manage the border between Belarus and Poland, and Belarus and Lithuania due to the emergency situation in those EU member states.
The biggest amendment is an increase of €200 million for humanitarian crises in the world and protecting the EU border due to the increased migrant pressure.
Ressler said that "Croatia will benefit from practically all the programmes," and added that in that context a record package for recovery has been achieved for Croatia amounting to €25 billion which will be allocated to "various groups in Croatian society from students, farmers, entrepreneurs, police and city and county and city authorities."
That is an attempt to raise Croatia's standard to be similar to the standard in the most developed countries in the European Union, the HDZ MEP said.
The Parliament is expected to vote on the budget agreement at a plenary session in Strasbourg next week.
