Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has sent to Brussels the consolidated final, ninth and tenth payment requests from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) in the amount of €2.7 billion. The completion of all measures was 31 August, with the evaluation by the European Commission and the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council, as well as the final payments for the remaining 153 indicators, expected by the end of 2026.
Plenković reported that they have carried out 78 reforms, through 162 reform indicators they have realised 244 investment indicators and that they have achieved 100 per cent success. Croatia has so far drawn €7.3 billion, and on the basis of the Commission's confirmation, it has recorded a 100 per cent success rate in the implementation of reforms and investments covered by the previous requests.
Since the start of the NRRP, Croatia has been one of the most successful member states in the implementation and use of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the main instrument of the EU's NextGenerationEU package designed to support EU economies in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. At 13 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), Croatia positioned itself at the top of the European Union, just behind Greece, whose share of GDP was 16 per cent.
Plenković stated that they have done their utmost in the past five years in the implementation of the EU's NextGenerationEU instrument, thereby securing significant funds for investment in various sectors, including post-earthquake recovery. He added that following the submission of the request, there is a final evaluation by the European Commission and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, while the final payments should be realised by the end of this year.
The NRRP covers reforms and investments in various areas of society and the state, from public administration, justice, health, the labour market, social protection and education, through energy, transport and digitalisation, to energy efficiency and strengthening the competitiveness of the economy. The government concludes that all this has contributed to the improvement of Croatia's credit rating, which major rating agencies have placed in the investment grade category of A.
