EC approves Croatia's payment request for 162.5 mln euro under RRF

"Following its assessment of the payment request submitted by Croatia on December 21, the Commission has preliminarily concluded that Croatia has satisfactorily completed the nine milestones and seven targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision for the fourth installment," the Commission said in a press release.

This payment request covers important steps in the delivery of six reforms and eight investments in the public administration, the judiciary, public procurement, early childhood education and care, the decarbonisation of the energy sector, electronic communications, research and innovation, and health.

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Croatia's fulfillment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Croatia can take place following the EFC's opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.

The Croatian recovery and resilience plan will be financed by 5.8 billion euro in grants and 4.2 billion euro in loans.

This payment request will bring the funds disbursed to Croatia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to 3.7 billion euro, including 818 million in pre-financing received in September 2021 and the 585 million euro pre-payment under REPowerEU received in January 2023. This corresponds to 37% of all the funds in the Croatian plan, with 28% of all the milestones and targets in the plan fulfilled.

($ = 0.922 euro)