This northwestern Croatian county has deserved this title for its ambitious approach to encouraging innovations and its dedication to the upgrade of SMEs in some of the traditional sectors such as the tourist industry and crafts and trades.
Receiving the award at a ceremony in Brussels on Thursday, the county assembly chairman Zlatko Šorša said that the local authorities are very proud of this achievement.
Šorša said that Krapina-Zagorje County is a trailblazer in the development of health and continental tourism and in ecology at the national level.
The award, delivered by the European Committee of the Regions, has also been given to Spain's Galicia autonomous community and the Polish region of Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province.
The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) is a project that identifies and rewards EU regions and cities which show an outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy, irrespective of their size, wealth and competences. Regions and cities with the most credible, forward-thinking and promising vision plan are granted the label "European Entrepreneurial Region" (EER) for a specific year.
The EER label has been set up in partnership with the European Commission and is supported by EU level stakeholders such as SME United, Eurochambres, Social Economy Europe and EURADA. It remains open to any organisation willing to contribute to its objectives.
Since its creation in 2010, the EER label has been granted to 39 regions and cities from 17 EU member states.