The European Union has earmarked nearly EUR 2 million as part of the IPA pre-accession fund, while the rest will come from the Croatian budget, it was said.
An attache at the EU Delegation to Croatia, Erol Akdag, said that as of July 2013, when it joined the EU, Croatia would be the only member country with the mine issue and that it was important to the EU that the issue of left-over mines be solved.
He highlighted the importance of revitalising demined areas, saying that as soon as it joined the EU, Croatia would have at its disposal EUR 9.67 million per year over ten years to cultivate demined farmland. He said this money, as well as the money for demining, would be approved based on good programmes.
Four billion kuna has been spent on demining so far and at least another HRK 3.5 billion is necessary, said Dijana Plestina, head of the government's demining office. She recalled that Croatia should be mine-free by 2019.
The head of the Croatian Mine Action Centre, Miljenko Vahtaric, said HRK 600 million of that HRK 4 billion came from donations, with the EU being the largest donor with about HRK 170 million. Individual member countries have donated another HRK 100 million.
A total of 700.7 square kilometres of land in 96 towns and municipalities in 12 countries still has to be cleared of mines.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)