Addressing the conference "Regional Policy - From Pre-Accession to Structural Funds", Huebner singled out as the main European challenges increasing the attractiveness and accessibility of the regions, promoting enterprise and economic growth, job creation, and investment in human resources.
The EU has earmarked EUR 300 billion for its regional policy in the 2007-2013 period. For every euro invested from the European budget come three euros from other sources, which creates the effect of financial leverage in promoting regional development, Huebner said.
Martina Dalic, State Secretary of the Central Office for the Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds, said that individual operational programmes under the IPA pre-accession programme were being prepared, and that over the next three years Croatia could draw EUR 590 million from the fund to strengthen its institutions and the system of management of structural and cohesion funds, which will be available after the country joins the EU.
Ante Zigman, State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, said that the role of the ministry where he was working was to ensure a system that would enable the maximum use of pre-accession funds.
The way we use pre-accession funds today will have a long-term effect on Croatia, because after we join the bloc we will have to contribute to the European budget, and it will depend on us how much of those funds we will draw back. It is therefore of great importance to create a system that will enable Croatia in the future to use more funds than it pays into the EU budget, Zigman said.