The report was prepared by the Central State Office for Croats Abroad and provides a detailed breakdown of the funds allocated last year by various ministries and other institutions, as well as the Office itself, with the largest portion going to Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In terms of allocated amounts, three ministries stand out: the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Science and Education.
For HVO pension beneficiaries: €53.7 million
A total of €58.9 million was allocated for all activities of the Ministry of Labour. Within this amount, the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute covered expenditures of €53.7 million for beneficiaries of HVO pensions.
For the sub-measure "Return from Abroad" within the "I Choose Croatia" measure, implemented by the Croatian Employment Service, €3.2 million was spent.
The Ministry of Health continued to support the Clinical Hospital Mostar with an allocation of €10.3 million in targeted assistance for settling outstanding debts to suppliers of medicines, consumables, and implantable medical materials.
The Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) spent €4.2 million on healthcare for Croatian citizens residing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For science and education: €5.6 million
A total of €5.6 million was allocated for all activities of the Ministry of Science and Education, of which €3.8 million was designated for the education of Croatian children abroad.
Additionally, €1.1 million was allocated for funding development projects, travel costs, accommodation, and daily allowances for lecturers from Croatia teaching at the University of Mostar, as well as co-financing postgraduate studies in Croatia for employees of the University of Mostar.
The Central Office’s activities include support programmes for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian national minority in 12 European countries, and the Croatian diaspora.
For programmes and projects aimed at improving the quality of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, €6.5 million was allocated in 2024, with the largest share, €1.8 million, going to 23 education and science projects, including the construction, renovation, and equipping of schools, preschools, and school sports halls.
New projects on the list of strategic projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Last year, eight more projects were declared strategic and received support ranging from €180,000 (projects of the Banja Luka Diocese) to €500,000 each (construction of a primary school with a kindergarten and sports hall in Fojnica, expansion and equipping of the Croatian Hospital Dr Fra Mato Nikolić – two wings, renovation of Fra Dominik Mandić Grammar School in Široki Brijeg, support for improving student standards in Sarajevo).
Projects for Croatian national minorities in 2024 were allocated €1.7 million, with around €1.6 million awarded through a public call to 163 minority organisations from 11 out of 12 European countries—excluding Bulgaria.
Among the nine ‘minority’ strategic projects, the largest support—€1.2 million—was given to the "Build a Mill Where There’s Water – 7 Matica" project, which includes the construction, renovation, and refurbishment of seven buildings in areas where Croats in Serbia live in significant numbers, specifically in Sombor, Monoštor, Sonta, Petrovaradin, Ruma, Šid, and Opovo.
This project, led by the Croatian National Council in Serbia, is based on the fact that Croats in Serbia lack well-developed institutions, are territorially dispersed, and that most associations do not have their own space for activities. Therefore, the initiative aims to establish so-called ‘small matica’ centres in areas where Croats live in greater numbers, analogous to the main Matica in Subotica.
Digitisation of documents at the Croatian Ethnic Institute in Chicago
Among the two strategically significant projects for Croats in the diaspora is the Digitisation of Documents and Renovation of the Croatian Ethnic Institute in Chicago, for which €150,000 has been allocated. Founded in 1975 and run by the Franciscans, the institute serves as an archive preserving a vast collection of Croatian emigrant community documents and individual records, holding nearly 800,000 unique documents related to Croats in the United States and Canada.
The second project, "Meetings of the Croatian Diaspora," will take place this month in Brazil.
In 2024, Croatia also supported 129 Croatian diaspora organisations from 25 countries across five continents, with a total of €1.2 million allocated for their projects.
In addition, an extra €1.8 million was awarded through a programme financing special needs and projects of interest to Croats living outside Croatia.
Croatia also continued supporting Croatian students living abroad, awarding 1,500 scholarships worth a total of €2.2 million for the 2023/2024 academic year.
Some minority protection committees have not met for years
Alongside numerous numerical indicators on allocations for Croats abroad, the report also reveals that some intergovernmental mixed committees (MMOs) for the protection of minorities, established to monitor the implementation of bilateral minority protection agreements that Croatia has signed with Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, have not met for years.
For instance, it was only at the end of 2024 that a new chairperson of the Serbian section of the MMO was appointed, after the position had remained vacant since the 2020 parliamentary elections.
In Montenegro, since the 2020 parliamentary elections, there has been no official information on the appointment of a new MMO co-chair.