Minister Paladina holds meeting with EC Commissioner in Brussels

This meeting is a continuation of good co-operation and intensive communication between the two bodies on post-earthquake reconstruction issues, especially in the part where reconstruction is financed through grants from the European Union Solidarity Fund.

At the beginning of this week, Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Ivan Paladina met with European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira in Brussels to present the activities on which the Ministry has been working intensively since his entry into office in March of this year.

Speaking of the challenges in the post-earthquake reconstruction process, the Minister pointed out the very high quality cooperation between the representatives of the European Commission, the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the line ministry, which resulted in the decision on extending the deadline for the use of grants from the EU Solidarity Fund for the purpose of reconstruction of public buildings, applying the build-back-better principle.

“The Republic of Croatia strongly appreciates the high level of understanding by the European Commission for our very specific situation, because I will remind you that it is almost unprecedented that a country within the European Union recorded two devastating earthquakes in such a short period of time in different areas,” said Paladina.

The Minister also presented the method of systematic monitoring of implementation and complementary use of multiple sources of financing and spoke about the activities taken to strengthen the administrative capacities of the Ministry and intensify cooperation with implementing bodies and beneficiaries.

Commissioner Ferreira expressed her satisfaction with the presented review of activities and the assessment of the current situation presented by Minister Paladina and reiterated the European Commission's readiness for any kind of assistance Croatia may need in the reconstruction process.
The meeting was concluded by agreement on the following meetings at the technical and high level and on continuation of systematic and good cooperation.

News