The total value of the Phare programme is 61 million euros and the funds are intended for the application of measures which are accession-oriented. The measures also cover Croatia's efforts to meet political and economic criteria and adopt the European acquis communautaire.
The agreement was signed by the National Aid Coordinator, State Secretary Martina Dalic, and the chief of the EC Delegation in Zagreb, Vincent Degert.
This is an important step and now the programme should be implemented in the field, Degert said and pointed out projects aimed at protecting minorities, particularly the Roma, improving air quality and enhancing the Customs Administration performance.
Dalic said that the implementation of the projects would start in the first quarter of this year and all projects are to be completed by 30 November 2009.
"From 2007 onwards Croatia and other candidate and potential candidate countries will benefit from the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), which will group Phare type-measures with ISPA and SAPARD investments in Component I Transition Assistance and Institution Building and Component II Cross-border Co-operation. In addition to that IPA will contain a new component aimed at human resource development. The purpose of the IPA Programme is to establish an implementation system which will ease the transition to structural and cohesion funds upon accession. This will allow Croatia to benefit from and make good use of the large amounts of money which will be made available once it is a Member State," the EC Delegation reported on its website.
The IPA annual financial envelope indicatively allocated to Croatia amounts to about 150 million euros.