EUSAIR Facility Point Financial Dialogue in Croatia

The event was welcomed by representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and national coordinators of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs: Assistant Ministers Oliver Šarić and Stella Arneri and Mr. Nedjeljko Špilek. Following the introductory remarks, the participants were presented with a brief overview of existing sources of funding and how they contribute to macro-regional strategies (MRS), in particular EUSAIR: Operational Program (OP) Competitiveness and Cohesion, OP Effective Human Resources, Rural Development Program, OP for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and European Territorial Cooperation. On this occasion, a representative of the Ministry of Labour stressed that the problem of non-inclusion of MRS on their part was recognized and that the plan was to respond in a timely manner and try to change it.

EUSAIR Pillar 4 Coordinator, Ms. Blanka Belošević, outlined the Pillar 4 main priorities as well as three project ideas to be developed into macro-regional projects from WPT2 “Project development” EUSAIR Facility Point. Main objective is finding possible funding sources for their later implementation or planning with a view of taking  these priorities and ideas into account in the next financial period.

Ms. Željka Barić, National Coordinators from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, stressed the importance of finding an agreement on how to treat MRS in the future financial period. She also informed the participants of the current idea of ​​establishing a cross-border network of Managing Authorities, which would meet at a specific time, with the aim of detecting and linking the problems of each country.

In continuation of the meeting, a new draft Regulation for the financial period 2021-2027 was presented, including an overview of all changes from the previous period, as well as the Croatian National Development Strategy (NRS) by 2030 as the main hierarchical act of public policy making and a strategic framework for the effective use of EU funds during this period.

The meeting ended with a brief overview of macro-regional priorities by EUSAIR thematic pillars, with a discussion on further cooperation regarding the quality and timely inclusion of both national and macro-regional priorities in the European Union's Multiannual Financial Framework proposal for 2021-2027.

In conclusion, the emphasis was once again on improving cooperation between the pillars of EUSAIR, the importance of participating in meetings and the exchange of information. Next financial dialogue will take place at the beginning of February 2020.