ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 - EU Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Tuesday he would do his utmost so that by the end of this month Croatia was given the assessment that it was ready to join the Schengen Area because it deserved it.

Asked by reporters in Luxembourg if the Commission would confirm at its meeting next week that Croatia was ready for Schengen, he said he was doing his best to have that assessment by the end of this Commission's term because Croatia deserved it and because he had vowed it at his hearing five years ago.

On one condition, naturally, that Croatia meets the benchmarks, Avramopoulos said. Asked if Croatia met all the criteria, he added that they were in the final stretch.

On September 26, after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Croatia should become a full Schengen member and that the Commission was finalising its assessment.

A positive assessment from the Commission is not enough for joining as the assessment is only about technical readiness. The final decision is made by all member states.

More news about Croatia and its attempts to enter Schengen can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 - Representatives of the European Commission and the Croatian government will meet in Zagreb next week to discuss the use of EU funds in the period from 2021 to 2027, when there will be less money available to all EU member states, it was said at the European Week of Regions and Cities conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

This will be the second such meeting after last month an informal dialogue started in anticipation of the next seven-year period financial period.

The Croatian side is expected to be led by Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Marko Pavić while the European Commission is to be represented by Aurelio Cecilio, who heads a unit in charge of Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

The Croatian government depends on money from EU funds, which account for about 80% of public investments in the country. The EC, the EU's executive body that approves financial allocations, in February this year published a report with guidelines for cohesion policy investments.

It proposed that Croatia should invest in areas such as research and development, environmental protection and digital and transport connectivity, which includes connecting Croatian islands with the mainland to improve the life of local population and stop emigration.

Croatia is yet to determine its priorities. In recent years most of the EU money has been invested in transport and agriculture, the most expensive project being the construction of the 526 million euro Pelješac Bridge. Talks held between the EC and Croatia so far indicate that there will be no more of such big and visible individual projects and that money is to be invested in a large number of smaller projects.

In the 2021-2027 period Croatia is expected to receive 6% less allocations from the EU budget than is now the case. Over the past seven years Croatia has had at its disposal 10.7 billion euro from the EU budget.

However, this is not the only piece of bad news for countries like Croatia. This week the EC has continued to insist on greater participation of local authorities in joint projects. In the period from 2014 to 2020 the EC has given a maximum 85% of the money for individual projects while the remaining 15% has been provided by local government units.

The EC now wants the share from the EU budget to be reduced to 70% and the share given by local authorities to increase to 30%. This is mostly supported by northern EU countries that pay more into the joint budget than they get from it while south-eastern countries, which take more money than they pay into the joint budget, are against it.

Their position is supported by the European Committee of the Regions, the EU's advisory body representing European regional and local authorities, but during Tuesday's European Week of Regions and Cities, the biggest annual event on the EU's cohesion policy, the EC insisted on its view that the share of local project funding should be increased, notably owing to economic recovery and GDP growth.

The final decision could be made next year, when the EU will be chaired by Croatia in the first six months, after which Germany takes over the six-month presidency.

More news about EU funds can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 8, 2019 - The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has established certain weaknesses in the calculation of cohesion policy allocations which Croatia can use as an argument in the debate on the multiannual financial framework, ECA member Ivana Maletić said on Monday.

Under the European Commission's proposal, Croatia should receive in the 2021-27 multiannual financial framework about 6% less funds as part of the cohesion policy than in the current one. Although Croatia is in the group of countries with Bulgaria and Romania, whose GDP is below 60% of the EU average, the other two countries should receive 8% more.

Presenting a report on the execution of the 2018 EU budget, Maletić said the ECA found weaknesses in the calculation and that as the country presiding the EU next year, Croatia could ask for a correction.

The report shows that absorption of cohesion funds was low and Croatia is ranked last as to funds paid out, which is no surprise given that contracting gained momentum only in 2017 and 2018, she said.

According to Commission data from the end of June, Croatia contracted 78% and paid out 25% of the funds envisaged in the 2014-20 period.

Of the 11 member states which use structural and investment funds the most, the most successful in contracting is Hungary (109%), followed by Latvia (85%), Romania (83%), Poland (79%), Croatia, Estonia and Slovakia (78%), Slovenia and Lithuania (77%), Bulgaria (72%) and the Czech Republic (71%).

As for funds paid, Estonia is first (40%), followed by Lithuania (39%), Latvia (38%), Hungary and Bulgaria (33%), Poland and the Czech Republic (32%), Slovenia (29%), Romania (27%), Slovakia (26%) and Croatia (25%).

In its draft for the 2021-27 multiannual financial framework, the Commission proposes for the first time linking fund allocation and the rule of law, a sort of message to member states which the Commission believes bring the independence of the judiciary into question.

Maletić said this was not a good idea, claiming that end users and not states would be punished. She suggested, instead, that state which did not respect the rule of law pay more into the EU budget.

More news about European Union funds can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 6, 2019 - European funds are changing Croatia for the better, Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Marko Pavić said at the EU Funds Fair in the coastal city of Šibenik on Sunday.

Pavić said that at the start of the term of the present government Croatia's contracting rate of European funds was 9 percent, while now it is 75 percent. A total of 22 billion kuna has been paid out, which is equivalent to the cost of six Pelješac Bridges, he added.

"EU funds are changing Croatia by improving its healthcare system, where 1.7 billion kuna has been invested, and transport infrastructure, where over 1 billion kuna has been invested. Pelješac Bridge is a lasting monument to this financial envelope," the minister said.

He went on to say that EU funds were also used to improve the education system, with over 1 billion kuna having been invested in the e-school programme, 680 million kuna in the curriculum reform and 6.5 billion kuna in employment.

Pavić said that tax cuts had left regional and local government units with 2 billion kuna which should be used to co-finance projects.

He said that a college for the administration of EU funds would be opened to facilitate the absorption of EU funding.

Šibenik is among the most successful Croatian cities in absorbing EU funds. Mayor Željko Burić said that the city had absorbed all the money it planned to under its development strategy. He said that over 1.1 billion kuna worth of investment projects were currently being implemented, including a 500 million kuna water supply and drainage project, the construction of a waste management centre, worth 200 million kuna, and the reconstruction of the city's central square, worth 50 million kuna.

More news about EU funds can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 4, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday he expected the new European Commission, notably its Vice President Dubravka Šuica, to make progress that would help Croatia and other member states deal with demography issues.

Šuica, the Croatian candidate for Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, was given a positive assessment after a hearing in the European Parliament on Thursday during which she answered questions from members of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

Speaking at a press conference, Plenković recalled that Šuica was nominated by the Croatian government and that her department was chosen by new Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Democracy and demography are two very important topics for Croatia and all of Europe, he added.

This is the first time in the European project that a commissioner has been tasked with demography, a topic that "is especially important for us because of Croatia's negative birth rate" and a problem, he said, to which many other member states were not immune either.

He said it was especially important that Šuica was also one of the Commission's eight vice presidents. "I consider this to be a great success for Croatia, which is the youngest Union member. We have strengthened Croatia's position in the EU and the influence we have in the Union's institutions."

Asked if he had to attack the GONG NGO recently given that some MEPs at the hearing were not interested in the question of Šuica's declaration of assets, Plenković said he did not know who felt attacked but that it was telling that no one had raised the issue of Šuica's assets when she ran in European Parliament elections in 2013, 2014 and this year.

"This was a political wish to make this an outstanding issue now," he said, adding that Šuica had passed the hearing at the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee without a question mark.

He said the MEP who asked Šuica about her assets at Thursday's hearing was irrelevant. "He belongs to the group of those who don't belong to anyone."

More news about Dubravka Šuica can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 4, 2019 - A European Commission Vice President-designate, Dubravka Šuica of Croatia, has the necessary majority support for a positive assessment of her hearing, sources at the European Parliament said on Thursday evening.

The Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs, expanded to include members of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, on Thursday evening interviewed Šuica, the Croatian candidate for EC Vice-President for Democracy and Demography.

According to unofficial sources at the EP, members of Šuica's political group, the EPP, were satisfied with the hearing, as were the Socialists&Democrats (S&D), the Liberals (RE), and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Those who were against were the far left, the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE), the far right, Identity and Democracy (ID), and the Greens.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković congratulated Šuica on Twitter, describing her passing the hearing as a great success for Croatia.

The hearing, which lasted slightly less than three hours, was dominated by topics regarding a Conference on the Future of Europe in 2020, which is within Šuica's remit, and world-view questions.

She was also asked about her property.

In her introductory address, Šuica committed to improve citizens' participation in EU democracy and to address Europe's demographic change.

She also said that she would dedicate herself fully to the organisation of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which should start in 2020 and last two years.

The conference is expected to serve as a forum to connect European citizens, civil society and European institutions, its aim being for Europeans to say what kind of Union they want and how they want it to be run.

Questions from all seven coordinators of political groups were about that topic.

Some of the MEPs asked Šuica why she had voted against a report whereby a procedure was launched against Hungary under Article 7 for violation of the rule of law and European values.

She said that she had voted against the report because she believed that the EP should not be the one to launch the procedure and that the European Commission was in a better position for that as it was a neutral arbiter. She added that she believed in the rule of law and shared the concern about some serious cases of violation of the rule of law.

A representative of the Renew Europe Group, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, said that Šuica had regularly voted against women's rights, notably sexual and reproductive rights.

French MEP Raphael Glucksmann (S&D) asked Šuica about her position on abortion and family planning and asked her to condemn Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's statement that there was a danger of the European population being replaced by migrants.

I will not condemn anyone and will not be in a position to do so. As I said earlier, I am for legal migrations, Šuica said.

As for abortion, she said that the issue was not within the remit of the EU but of member-states and that in her country, abortion was legal.

Swedish MEP Alice Kuhnke (Greens) said that Šuica had voted against women's right to decide about their own bodies and asked her if she could promise that she would advocate women's right to abortion.

I voted the way I did not because I am against gender equality but because the reports in question always contained something that was not related to women's rights, Šuica said.

I will promote human dignity, freedom, equality and minority rights, she added.

Spanish MEP Eugenia Palop (GUE) asked Šuica if a family other than the traditional one was acceptable to her.

She said that she was for the traditional family but that she did not have anything against the family being defined otherwise.

A German MEP, satirist Martin Sonneborn, who does not belong to any political group, asked Šuica about her property.

Can you reveal the concept of how you acquired a wealth of more than five million euros, he asked.

Committee on Constitutional Affairs chair Antonio Tajani reacted to this, saying that Šuica had received the green light from the Committee on Legal Affairs and that everything was in order with her declaration of financial interests and that this was not a topic of the hearing.

Šuica said that she would answer that question as well.

What you are saying does not correspond with the facts. You have read some articles that are simply not true. Twenty years ago, I lived in a family house with my husband who was a sea captain and had a decent salary. My financial statements have always been transparent and in line with the rules, my financial situation has always been clear and transparent. Everything is in line with the law, she said.

The heads of parliamentary committees will meet on October 15 to decide on the outcome of all hearings and they will submit their conclusions to a conference of EP presidents, which comprises the EP president and heads of parliamentary groups. They will make final assessments and decide which candidates have passed their hearing, for which a new hearing will be requested and for which alternative candidates have to be proposed.

A vote on the entire EC is set for October 23 at a plenary session in Strasbourg and if all goes well, members of the new European Commission will take office on November 1.

More news about Dubravka Šuica can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - The European Commission on Thursday welcomed the establishment of Feelsgood, the first Croatian investment fund which will help early- to growth-stage startups with an ecological and social impact.

"The launch of the new Feelsgood Fund in Croatia, which is being financially backed by the European Investment Fund and the Juncker Plan, is good news. Not only are key sectors, such as the circular economy and healthcare, to receive a financial boost, but those companies will make a positive social impact," said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue.

The €30 million strong Feelsgood Fund is being launched in Zagreb today. The EIF contributed to the Fund with €15 million, almost entirely covered by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the core of the Investment Plan for Europe, or the Juncker Plan.

"With support for Feelsgood Fund, the EIF is making yet another positive mark on Croatian economy. This time we are enabling new investment opportunities for country's startups with environmental and social impact to make sure we achieve sustainable development of Croatian economy and make sure Croatia is able to respond to major social and environmental challenges of today", said EIF Chief Executive Grabenwarter Uli.

The Feelsgood Social Impact Investment Fund is the first venture fund in Croatia founded and managed by a completely Croatian team. It is backed by the impact academic panel from four academic institutions from Croatia and Slovenia to advise SMEs on the impact criteria and their progress measurement.

The Feelsgood Fund will invest in Croatian startups operating in financial inclusion, agriculture and farming, circular economy, education and healthcare sectors. To measure and monitor the social impact (a significant, positive change that addresses a pressing social or environmental challenge) of their investments, the Fund management team will also include two researchers from the University of Zagreb and Zagreb Institute of Economics. Companies from Slovenia will also be able to apply for support from the Feelsgood Fund, the Commission said.

"'Feelsgood will be ready to provide long-awaited smart capital for the SMEs in Croatia and Slovenia which are determined to yield a positive social and environmental impact in addition to profit, said Renata Brkić, the fund's founding partner.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 29, 2019 - Croatia has presented its priorities for the forthcoming presidency of the European Union in talks with many EU officials over the last three days and all were well accepted, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday.

"All the priorities were well accepted by all our interlocutors. The visit to the EU institutions was well timed," Plenković told reporters at the end of his three-day visit to Brussels, following a meeting with outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk.

The prime minister met with outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and future Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Commissioner for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis, present and future Commissioner for the Budget Guenther Oettinger and Johannes Hahn, chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, current and future European Council President Donald Tusk and Charles Michel. He also addressed a forum on EU-Asia connectivity.

One of the topics discussed was Croatia's preparations to assume the six-month rotating EU presidency on January 1 next year. Croatia singled out four priority areas for its presidency: economic growth, the single market, cohesion and climate change; connectivity; internal and external security; and strengthening the Union's global role.

The meeting with Tusk also focused on preparations for a European Council meeting in Brussels on October 17-18, which will open discussion on the multiannual financial framework for the next seven years, and will also deal with Brexit. The Brexit situation is very uncertain because it is not yet clear whether the United Kingdom will leave the EU on October 31 as planned or if its departure will again be delayed, until the end of January next year.

Also discussed was the possibility of opening accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Ministers for European affairs are expected at their meeting in Luxembourg on October 15 to give the green light for the start of negotiations with the two countries. The German parliament gave the go-ahead a few days ago.

"Croatia's position is that both Albania and North Macedonia have met the criteria and that a decision should be adopted to that effect. Consultations are under way and we will see if all member states feel the same," the Croatian PM said.

As for Brexit, Plenković said the most important thing was for EU27 to remain united, adding that everyone was awaiting a concrete proposal from the British government. He said that Croatia was advocating an orderly departure of the UK, but was also ready for the opposite scenario.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 27, 2019 - The coordinator of Croatia's EU presidency, Gordan Markotić, said on Friday that during the country's chairmanship of the EU 161 events would be organised in the Croatian capital city and that around 35,000 overnight stays and 14,000 official lunches and dinners were expected.

"During those six months, we expect around 25,000 delegates. In Zagreb alone, around 35,000 overnight stays are expected. All hotels will be engaged," Markotić said on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Croatian Society of Conference Interpreters.

Markotić stressed that everyone would be provided with accommodation and that all hotels would be full.

During its EU presidency, Croatia will organise around 10,000 official lunches and 4,000 official dinners, he said.

Of the 161 events to be held, most are informal meetings at which decisions are not made but which serve as preparation for formal meetings in Brussels, Markotić said.

Two summit meetings of European leaders, 12 informal meetings of the Council of Ministers, eight ministerial conferences and four meetings of parliament speakers are the most important events to be held in Croatia, said Markotić.

Zagreb will host two-thirds of events, while the rest will take place elsewhere in Croatia, he added.

The National and University Library (NSK) will be the main venue of Croatia's EU presidency, and there will be another 'central venue' in Zagreb, Markotić said, adding that several hotels will provide conference rooms.

Formal dinners will be held at locations such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Mimara Museum, the Preporodna Dvorana in Opatička Street, and the Croatian Music Institute.

A Europe that grows, a Europe that protects, a Europe that connects and a Europe that is open and assertive - these are the four areas in which Croatia will adopt the priorities of its presidency, the coordinator said.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's chief-of-staff Zvonimir Frka Petešić said that preparations were proceedings according to plan, adding that the website of Croatia's presidency would be available in Croatian, English, French and German.

Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Thursday estimated EU presidency costs at around 70 million euro.

The presidential troika started with Romania's presidency beginning on 1 January, and it also includes Finland, whose presidency started on July 1, and Croatia, which will take over on 1 January 2020.

The presidential troika was introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon to ensure the continuity of work at the Council of the EU.

The troika determines long-term goals and prepares a joint programme with topics and main issues to be dealt with by the Council over the 18-month period. Based on that programme, all three countries prepare their detailed six-month programmes.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 26, 2019 - By putting forward a bill on the processing of biometric data to strengthen security in Croatia and the Schengen area, the Croatian government wants to secure conditions for interoperability, namely for the linking and processing of a person's physical traits which enables their uniform identification between the information systems of Croatia and other EU countries.

"Currently the most topical EU initiative in the field of security is the strengthening of data exchange by linking information systems and databases containing biometric data," Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said while explaining provisions of the bill that was sent to the parliament from the government's session on Thursday.

Božinović recalled that in June this year two regulations on interoperability were adopted at EU level, providing a legal framework for the linking of the existing big European systems (Schengen Information System - SIS; Visa Information System - VIS, European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database - EURODAC) and the systems to be established - the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS TCN), the Entry/Exit System (EES), and the pre-travel authorisation system for visa exempt travellers (ETIAS).

"Croatia has decided that the issue of interoperability will be one of the priorities of its EU presidency in 2020 and we among leading member-countries in terms of the progress made so far in that area," said Božinović.

Biometric data are physical traits of a person that enable their uniform identification, the minister said, stressing that interoperability will make it possible to check personal data through all available information systems and databases automatically, whenever a person that is subject to a procedure "puts their finger on a fingerprint scanner".

This will additionally contribute to security in Croatia and the Schengen area because it will secure a solution to multiple identities with the aim of more accurately identifying persons and preventing identity-related fraud, the minister said, adding that the European Commission had already given Croatia 13.2 million euro to establish new and upgrade existing information systems and implement the interoperability regulations.

More news about Croatia and European Union can be found in the Politics section.