Croatian Experience with Management of EU Funds Nataša Mikuš, Deputy State Secretary Central Office for Development St

1. Croatian Experience withManagement of EU Funds Nataša Mikuš, Deputy State SecretaryCentral Office for Development Strategyand Coordination of EU Funds

2. Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds EU FUNDS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EU-CROATIAN RELATIONS OBNOVA (1996-2000) 10/2001 Stabilisation and Association Agreement Interim Agreement CARDS (2000-2004/2006) FP 2000-2006 European Partnership with Croatia 04/2004 + Community Programmes Council Decision on Croatia as a Candidate Country 06/2004 PHARE/ISPA/SAPARD (2005/2006) 10/2004 Pre-Accession Strategy for Croatia FP 2007-2013 Opening of negotiations 10/2005 IPA (2007 onwards) Pre-Accession Partnership 02/2006 EU STRUCTURAL FUNDS & COHESION FUND EU MEMBERSHIP

3. FINANCIAL STATISTICS Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds 1 CARDS 262 million € under national component 2001 - 60 million € 2002 - 59 million € 2003 - 62 million € 2004 - 81 million € Participation in regional projects (199 million €) 2 PHARE 167 million € in total 2005 - 80 + 7 million € 2006 - 80 million € 3 ISPA 60 million € in total 2005 - 25 million € 2006 - 35 million € 4 SAPARD 2006- 25 million €

4. MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ISPA

5. PHARE/ISPA SAPARD Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Programming Monitoring Evaluation Programming Monitoring Evaluation Financial management Financial management National Aid Coordinator Managing Authority National Authorising Officer National Authorising Officer National Fund Monitoring Committee EX-POST CONTROL BY EC National Fund EX-ANTE CONTROL BY EC SAPARD Agency CFCU (Sectoral coordinators for ISPA) PIU 1 Final Beneficiary PIU 2 Final Beneficiary Final Beneficiary Final Beneficiary

6. NATIONAL AID COORDINATOR Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds FUNCTIONS • Coordination of the programming process; • Ensuring a close link between the general accession process and the use of Community assistance; • Guarantee of the use of transparent project selection procedures; • Signature of framework and annual financing agreements; • Management of monitoring and evaluation process. JMC SMSC SMSC SMSC SAPARD MC ISPA MC SMSC

7. NATIONAL AUTHORISING OFFICER Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds FUNCTIONS • Overall responsibility for financial management of EU funds; • Ensuring respect of rules pertaining to procurement, reporting and financial management; • Financial control (internal, system controls, expenditure checks); • Ensuring investigation and satisfactory treatment of suspected and actual cases of fraud and irregularity; • Recovering any EU pre-accession funds wrongly paid. NATIONAL FUND FUNCTIONS • Request for, and the receipt of, funds from the EC; • Redistribution of funds to the implementing agencies; • Financial reporting to the Commission.

8. IMPLEMENTING AGENCY (CFCU) Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds FUNCTIONS • Tendering and signature of contracts, in line with PRAG rules; • Effective, timely and accountable implementation of contracts; • Approval of payments (on SPOs authorisation); • Regular financial and progress reporting to the NAO and NAC; • Requesting the transfer of funds from the NF/NAO; • Operating an accounting system under international standards. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION UNIT FUNCTIONS • Preparation of programmes and project proposals; • Preparation of tender documentation; • Ensuring the co-financing elements of a programme/project; • Participation in tender evaluation; • Technical implementation and reporting; • Ensuring repayment of any funds in the case of irregularities.

9. BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE SYSTEM Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds PROCEDURES Staff planning & training Legal authority for tasks Formal establishment of accountability MANUALS Appropriate control of operations Risk management Segregation of duties PROCEDURES Reporting Monitoring & evaluation MANUALS

10. IPA Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds

11. IPA Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds CHALLENGES 1 PROGRAMMING Multi-annual with clear definition of national priorities 2 INSTITUTION BUILDING Alignment of structures to the requirements for Structural Funds operations: • Managing Authority • Implementing Agency • Certifying Authority • Audit Authority • Monitoring Committee 3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK Public procurement State aid/Competition Budgetary and financial provisions Environment protection

12. CROATIAN EXPERIENCE Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds SOME LESSONS LEARNT 1 PROGRAMMING Clear establishment of national priorities Ability to select the priorities of priorities (arbitration function of NAC) Continuous programming exercise (project pipeline) Allocation of responsibilities in line with the functions in the national administration Investment into human resources (keep people within the system and prevent staff turnover) Continuous training on the central and regional level Efficient cross-sectoral co-ordination 2 INSTITUTION BUILDING The EC is your partner in the process. We all share the same goal! And……….

13. Središnji državni ured za razvojnu strategiju i koordinaciju fondova EU Thank you for your attention! Questions? Comments?