The total value of the projects is EUR 9.5 million, with the European Union providing EUR 5.28 million from the PHARE programme.
The projects were launched in November 2007 and their implementation has taken between 12 and 24 months.
The head of the EC Delegation to Croatia, Vincent Degert, said the EU would become closer to Croatian citizens through the financing of such programmes.
This means that a candidate\’s accession process also has to do with providing assistance to ordinary people and creating jobs, rather than only with accession talks in Brussels, Degert said.
The implementation of the projects helps strengthen economic and social cohesion in Croatia and improve regional competitiveness, he said.
The Croatian minister of regional development, Petar Cobankovic, said that Croatia\’s strategic interest was to join the EU, and that Zagreb was doing its utmost to wrap up the accession negotiations by the end of the year. (Hina)
