Malenica said that the members of the Committee of the Regions were particularly interested in cohesion policy, which aims to ensure a balanced development of European regions, adding that that was why it was very important that there were no major cuts to cohesion funds in the new seven-year budget.
Malenica discussed the issue of public administration digitisation in the Office of Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Johannes Hahn.
"We think that the digitisation of public administration is one of the most important issues because European citizens will have better communication and greater support from public administration bodies," Malenica said.
In January 2019 Croatia decided on the new statistical division of the country so that its least developed areas could get more money from cohesion funds. The decision will apply as of 2023.
Croatia is currently divided into two statistical regions: Continental Croatia and Adriatic Croatia, and as of 2023 it will be divided into four. Adriatic Croatia will remain as it is now, while Continental Croatia will be divided into Northern Croatia, Pannonian Croatia and the City of Zagreb. Under the present division, the City of Zagreb, which is considerably more developed than the rest of the country, is treated the same as those parts that are slightly above 30 percent of the EU development average.
Malenica said that his ministry was considering a model to connect local government units so that they would work together in absorbing EU funds. In this context he mentioned the implementation of a project to optimise the local government system.