Brussels, 02/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 1 October, the European Commission adopted the new cross border cooperation programme between Slovenia and Croatia for 2014-2020 which will place the emphasis on flood prevention and will promote biodiversity.
The programme, with its overall budget of €55.6 million, €46.1 million of which will come from the European regional development fund (ERDF), primarily focuses on initiatives to promote adaptation to climate change, natural risk prevention and the protection of biodiversity.
It will also improve the management of water basins, that is, areas to recover the underground water and rainfall that feed into lakes, oceans and rivers. It will include, too, projects to clean river banks and create green job opportunities by preserving and restoring Natura 2000 habitats.
The Commission and participating regions hope to create 250 jobs dedicated to preserving biodiversity (the biodiversity shared by the two countries is among the richest in Europe, with between 45,000 and 120,000 plant and animal species identified) and 300 additional jobs in the social and health sectors. In terms of flood prevention, the programme provides for the development of joint plans and extension to six further water basins.
The programme covers 17 regions and some 3,285 million people, and includes Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)