EU's new Cohesion policy will bring Croatia, as the newest and one of the less developed members, new development opportunities. After the European Commision published it's new Cohesion Policy proposal, I've decided to secure the support of my colleagues in the S&D parliamentary group during the discussions on the allocations for the budget period of 2021 to 2027. It's Croatia's task to improve it's apsorbtion capacities to help further it's own development" said Tonino Picula MEP, member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament while hosting a visit of his colleagues Derek Vaughan, MEP and Constanze Krehl, MEP, chief of the S&D Working Group in the Regional Development Commitee of the European Parliament.
During their stay in Croatia, the MEPs visited the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds where they met Mr. Velimir Žunac, state secretary at the Ministry, along with Mrs. Iva Kovač, assistant director of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency and discussed Croatian experiences in EU funding projects.
Picula and his colleagues also visited BIOCentre, co-financed by the EU in the amount of thirteen million euro, a biotech incubator founded to provide business assistance and advisory services necessary for growth and development of early stage biotech companies, where they met dr. sc. Sanja Šale, Chief Science and Technology Officer and dr.sc. Gordan Lauc, the CEO of GENOS, one of the most advanced biotech research companies in the world.
In the Primorsko-goranska County, they met with the deputy county mayor, Mr. Petar Mamula and his team, who presented the MEPs with EU funded projects, worth over 202 million EUR in total.
During their second day in Croatia, they met with the deputy mayor of Rijeka, Mr. Marko Filipović and were shown the headquarters of the Rijeka European Capital of Culture 2020 project.
