Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday 12 March in Brussels that the Croatian authorities had entered the “final phase of consultation” with the European Commission in the preparation of the Croatian plan to implement the Next Generation EU European Recovery Plan.
Noting that the national budgetary allocation for Croatia under the European Recovery Plan is equivalent to “12%, 13% of the national GDP”, Plenković gave assurances that the Croatian plan - which addresses areas such as “business environment, public administration, health, labour market, energy efficiency”, would be improved to comply with the EU’s strategic objectives in order to be approved in time.
The Commission’s executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, highlighted the importance of including investment and structural reforms in the recovery plans.
Member States have until the end of April to submit their national recovery plans to the Commission (see EUROPE 12654/1).
EMU. The Croatian Prime Minister has been in Brussels since Thursday, where he met several European officials, and with Mr Dombrovskis discussed the current preparations for the adoption of the single currency by 2023.
Since mid-July 2020 (see EUROPE 12525/4), Croatia and Bulgaria have been in the ‘ERM II’ mechanism, the antechamber to the adoption of the euro.
Mr Plenković referred to the specific Croatian action plan on anti-money laundering, management of publicly controlled enterprises and improvement of the business environment, which will be implemented by March 2022.
Croatia also needs to prepare for concomitant entry into the banking union within the euro area. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)