ISPA, namely the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession, is designed to address environmental and transport infrastructure priorities identified in the Accession Partnerships with applicant countries in central and eastern Europe. The aim of ISPA is to enhance economic and social cohesion in the transport sector as well as in environmental protection in Europe.
Croatia can use 25 million euros for projects from the said sectors in 2005, and an additional 35 million euros in 2006, according to a Croatian national strategy for ISPA programmes with en emphasis on the transport sector, which was drawn up by the Croatian Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development Ministry.
If one adds funds which Croatia should earmark for this purpose in line with the same programme, it will be possible to spend 42.6 million euros for transport projects in the next two years.
The Transport Ministry has forwarded the national strategy to the European Integration Ministry (MEI), and the latter has reported that the European Commission is expected to give its remarks to the strategy by the end of the month.
The strategy includes an indicative list of projects and only some of those projects will be nominated for the funds in cooperation with the European Commission which will take into account priorities of the Union and Croatia in this field, MEI reported.
According to ISPA criteria, projects must be of a high quality and of a sufficient scale to have a significant impact in the field of environmental protection or in the improvement of transport networks. Projects should comprise a national financial contribution and they must comply with relevant EU norms and standards and be coherent with relevant EU sectoral policies.