The European Commission has approved a new regional fund map for Croatia for the period 2022-2027. This decision will enable significantly higher co-financing for all regions. According to the current European Nomenclature of Spatial Units for Statistics, Croatia was divided into two regions – Continental and Adriatic, while at the beginning of 2022 it was officially divided into four:
- Pannonian – Bjelovar-Bilogora, Virovitica-Podravina, Požega-Slavonia, Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem, Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties;
- Northern – Međimurje, Varaždin, Koprivnica-Križevci, Krapina-Zagorje and Zagreb counties;
- Adriatic – Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Istria, Dubrovnik-Neretva County and;
- the City of Zagreb.
The intensity of funds has also increased from the current 25% to 50% for Pannonian and Northern Croatia, 40% for the Adriatic, and 35% for the City of Zagreb region. The new regional fund map will be applied to EU funds in the new programming period and to tenders under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Also, the maximum fund intensity was determined for each region, i.e., the amount that can be allocated to the beneficiary expressed as a percentage of eligible investment costs.
Grants are being increased for all entrepreneurs. For large companies and their projects, the maximum amount of support will be 50% of eligible investment costs in the Pannonian and Northern Croatia regions, 40% in the Adriatic, and 35% in the City of Zagreb.
For initial investments with an eligible cost of up to EUR 50 million in all these areas, the maximum fund intensities may be increased by 10 percentage points for medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for small-scale investments. This means that for medium-sized enterprises the fund rises to a maximum of 60%, and for small to a maximum of 70% of eligible costs.
