ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - Speaking in the Sabor on Wednesday, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić denied claims by some opposition MPs that allocations for post-earthquake reconstruction had been decreased in the 2022 budget revision was decreasing allocations for reconstruction.

Funds are not being decreased, in fact, they are being increased by about HRK 300 million and the use of funds has been facilitated, Marić told lawmakers during a debate on the state budget revision.

Prior to the formal debate on the budget revision, the opposition made a series of objections to the government's document, saying that funds for healthcare had not been planned well and that funding for reconstruction was being decreased.

Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin asked why funds for reconstruction were being decreased by more than HRK 100 million.

He recalled that when the budget was adopted the SDP said that the allocation for the health sector had not been planned well and concluded that another budget revision would be necessary in the autumn and possibly a third one by the year's end.

Anka Mrak Taritaš (Glas) said the budget revision was proof that there would be no reconstruction. She said that funds had been increased for the health and defence ministries, which, she said, were headed by the two least successful ministers.

MP: Damage caused by inflation possibly HRK 20 billion

MP Zvonimir Toskot (Bridge) said that his party had calculated that the damage caused by inflation could amount to HRK 15 or even HRK 20 billion and that "nobody is discussing how to compensate for that damage," to be paid by the entire society.

If the cost of corruption of HRK 70 billion is added, we get an amount of HRK 90 billion, which is half the budget, he said.

Željko Sačić (Sovereignists) said that he was unpleasantly surprised that the revision did not allocate more funds to the USKOK anti-corruption office or the state attorney's office to improve their working conditions.

"It seems as though the state has profited in this crisis. The question though is how will citizens and enterprises survive," said MP Ružica Vukovac, noting that the state had collected HRK 1.8 billion more in VAT and HRK 1.9 billion more in contributions on wages.

HDZ group supports budget revision

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) group supported the government's budget revision proposal.

Grozdana Perić (HDZ) recalled that the start of the year brought new geopolitical problems resulting in problems in energy supply and inflation growth, which was why the government had to deal with additional problems, such as ensuring the sustainability of the health sector, pensions, and help citizens with energy prices.

Ivana Posavec Krivec (Social Democrats) responded by saying that the budget revision was not due to the situation caused by global circumstances but rather due to the government's poor budget planning and the failure to implement crucial reforms.

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ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - Two years after the Zagreb earthquake, 70 buildings are undergoing retrofitting on their own and decisions have been made for about 400 buildings to be reconstructed under the Reconstruction Fund scheme in March, April and May, Deputy Zagreb Mayor Luka Korlaet said on Thursday.

"Concerning those 70 buildings, their inhabitants organised themselves, took loans and started with the reconstruction, counting on being refunded by the Reconstruction Fund," Korlaet explained, adding that that was legitimate however the state has to increase the number of decisions through the Ministry and the Fund.

Answering reporters' questions Korlaet said he wasn't satisfied with the pace of reconstruction, two years on since the earthquake which hit Zagreb and northwestern Croatia on 22 March 2020.

"When speaking about the retrofitting of private buildings - a large number of decisions have been made by the ministry and the fund and they are now being implemented," he underscored.

In March and April, works will already be visible.

As far as reconstruction of public buildings is concerned the city authorities are stronger in that regard. "Reconstruction is underway of buildings owned by the city and we are doing the best we can for that to progress at some sort of normal pace," he said.

He underscored that the majority of schools have been reconstructed, with four elementary and eight secondary schools to go.

Koralet announced that it's now time for other public buildings such as theatres and museums and also health institutions.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

January the 15th, 2022 - The European Commission (EC) has told the Croatian Government that there will categorically be no deadline extension for spending on reconstruction projects for post-earthquake procedures.

As Index vijesti writes, the European Commission has refused to extend the deadline for the Republic of Croatia to use the funds from the Solidarity Fund and added that there is no consideration whatsoever being given to the proposed deadline extension of eighteen months to use the funds from the day the money was paid to the country, Jutarnji list unofficially reported.

Another Croatian publication, Telegram, has since published accurate quotations from a letter from the European Commission sent to the Croatian Government. It is clear from the letter that Croatia cannot receive a deadline extension for the spending of a massive 5.1 billion kuna from the Solidarity Fund.

"It was clarified that the EU Solidarity Fund Regulation doesn't provide for an extension of eighteen months for its implementation, and my colleagues explained that the costs of the first damage as a result of the original event (Zagreb earthquake) back in March 2020 are acceptable. Given its limited amount and timeframe, the EU Solidarity Fund should be used for emergency rehabilitation, while other means are more appropriate for significant and long-term reconstruction,'' reads the European Commission's letter signed by Sofia Alves of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the EC.

This means that the Republic of Croatia will need to return part of the amount totalling 5.1 billion kuna because it will not be able to spend it until June the 17th, when the deadline is set.

Croatia will have to finance these projects contracted so far from other EU sources

The European Commission also requested that the Croatian Government's decision to establish special departments within the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which were established exclusively for work on the Fund, be sent.

Special services within the Ministry were established only in December last year, one entire year after initially receiving the funds. They also noted that the funds of the Solidarity Fund are intended for emergency operations after damages, while the funds of other funds can be used for other projects.

On December the 27th, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he hoped that the European Commission would accept Croatia's argument for a deadline extension. It seems that there will be none of that, which means that the country will have to finance the projects agreed so far from other EU sources, which means less money for development projects.

Plenkovic's ministers: Nobody sought postponement

Plenkovic's ministers, Obuljen Korzinek, Bozinovic and Horvat all claimed that no one had actually asked the European Commission for a deadline extension, nor that this letter published by Telegram (linked above) was rejected.

"These are incorrect allegations, the merits of the letter were to confirm what was discussed at the meeting, and the implementation of the projects financed from the Fund was discussed, as was the method of reporting. The letter reads the follow-up of our technical meeting with the EC during December and at which we agreed on the dynamics of further work. The aim of the letter was to confirm what was agreed at the meeting,'' claimed Obuljen Korzinek.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 19 Sept, 2021 - The Croatian parliament's building, a heritage building in St. Mark's Square in downtown Zagreb, will undergo reconstruction due to the significant damage sustained in the March 2020 earthquake, a parliament source has told Hina.

Due to the procedures that need to be undertaken before the reconstruction, they could not specify how long reconstruction will last.

The source said that after the Zagreb earthquake, parliament applied for EU Solidarity Fund money intended for the reconstruction of the cultural heritage and was approved a HRK 87.6 million grant.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan envisages financing the whole reconstruction, including making the building more energy-efficient, from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility.

After the project documentation is prepared, there will be a public consultation, followed by public procurement.

Last December's Petrinja earthquake, which was strongly felt in Zagreb, only confirmed that the parliament building, which has not undergone major renovations in years, needs to be reconstructed.

The early 18th century two-storey building spreads over 1,900 square metres and has 41 rooms.

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ZAGREB, 18 July, 2021 -  The head of the fund for the post-quake reconstruction, Damir Vanđelić, said on Sunday that the size of the new dwellings to be provided to people, who were left homeless in the devastating quakes in 2020, would depend on the number of the household's members, as envisaged by the relevant law.

As far as the start of the construction of those dwellings is concerned, this depends on decisions to be made by the Construction Ministry, Vanđelić told the commercial N1 broadcaster.

Commenting on the procedure, Vanđelić said that there had so far been 12,000 applications submitted for reconstruction, and 19 final decisions had been made on the demolition of the damaged property, and 640 final decisions on disbursement of the financial grants.

He said that all the time the Fund urged the ministry to step up the procedure.

He also informed the broadcaster that HRK 33 million had been spent via the fund for reconstruction costs  plus HRK 26 million for emergency works paid out through the ministry.

Vanđelić said that he would leave the fund once it got into full swing and demonstrated important  elements in its workings such as efficiency, transparency.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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