ZAGREB, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday presented the government's draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan for 2021-2026 to Parliament, saying that it should help the country overcome the current crisis and turn challenges into opportunities.
The plan contains proposals worth a total of 49.08 billion Croatian kuna (7.75 billion U.S. dollars). Its drafting and submission to the European Commission is a precondition for obtaining funds from the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for the 2021 to 2023 period. Croatia will have to implement reforms and invest almost 40 percent of the EU funds in green transition and 20 percent in digital transformation.
"This is not helicopter money that would be simply given to the companies. It's not the purpose of the plan," Plenkovic said. The term "helicopter money" refers to a large sum of new money that is printed and distributed among the public to stimulate the economy.
The COVID-19 crisis has cost Croatia 32 billion kuna, which equals 8.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Plenkovic.
The plan's main components are the enterprise sector, pubic administration, judiciary and state assets, education, science and research, labor market, social protection health care and building reconstruction.
"We will allocate 54 percent of the money to the enterprise sector. We will ensure coherence with the European goals. We want to decarbonize transport and will ensure better coverage with broadband infrastructure," Plenkovic said. He noted that the plan should help the country overcome the crisis as soon as possible and that the government was open to consider new proposals.
Discussions on the plan should be concluded by the end of April. (1 Croatian kuna = 0.16 U.S. dollar) Enditem
