ESI fonds 2014. – 2020.

In the 2014-2020 financial period, the Republic of Croatia has at its disposal in total EUR 10.676 billion from the European Structural and Investment funds.

Out of that amount, EUR 8.397 billion is envisaged for the cohesion policy objectives, EUR 2.026 billion is envisaged for agriculture and rural development, while EUR 253 million is envisaged for development of fisheries.

The existence of a strategic framework is key to using ESI Funds, because funding is directed towards achieving goals identified within the strategic framework. The strategic framework is a series of public policies (strategies, regulations, acts, bylaws, etc.) containing goals and guidelines for development of the European Union and a particular member state, as well as priorities which will be financed.

European Union’s key strategic framework for the 2014-2020 period consists of Cohesion policy, Strategy Europe 2020 and certain sectoral public policies.

At the national level, the Republic of Croatia has defined the strategic framework for the use of ESI Funds through the Partnership Agreement, operational programmes, Common national rules and the Act on establishing institutional framework for the use of ESI Funds in the 2014-2020 period in the Republic of Croatia, as well as regulations prescribing the competences of individual bodies for each ESI instrument.

The Partnership Agreement lays down the national strategy for the use of European Structural and Investment Funds and describes Croatia’s approach to fulfilling the common goals of the Europe 2020 strategy by using EU budget funding.  

Operational programmes are documents which describe in detail measures and activities for the efficient use of ESI Funds.

The Republic of Croatia has four such operational programmes, and activities within each operational programme are financed by the corresponding ESI Fund (Cohesion Fund, European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund).