Croatia secures new €897 million EU payment

(Photo credit: Bogdan Giuşcă/GNU Free Documentation License)

BRUSSELS, 8 February 2026 – The European Commission has approved Croatia’s eighth request for payment under the European Union’s NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility, amounting to €896.9 million.

With this latest approval, the total funding disbursed to Croatia under its National Recovery and Resilience Plan has reached €7.3 billion, representing 73 per cent of the country’s overall allocation.

The Commission confirmed that Croatia has satisfactorily fulfilled six key milestones and 11 targets linked to reforms and investments across a wide range of sectors.

Its preliminary positive assessment has been forwarded to the EU’s Economic and Financial Committee, which has up to four weeks to deliver its opinion. Once this step is completed and a formal payment decision is adopted, the funds can be released.

Croatia submitted its eighth payment request on 15 December 2025, having met all 17 planned reform and investment indicators.

These span critical areas including the economy, energy, water management, transport, agriculture, public administration, justice and digitalisation, as well as the labour market, pension system, science, healthcare and construction.

Among the notable initiatives funded through this tranche is an expansion of healthcare access in underserved and remote areas. The plan includes the introduction of mobile pharmacy services within primary healthcare, particularly targeting island and hard-to-reach communities.

This will involve the procurement of six camper vehicles and two boats equipped to operate as mobile pharmacies, significantly improving access to essential medicines and healthcare services for vulnerable populations.

Key reforms linked to the payment also include amendments to the Mandatory Pension Funds Act. These changes are designed to reduce administrative fees, increase flexibility in fund selection and switching, and broaden permissible investment options.

The reforms aim to improve portfolio diversification and allow savers to better adapt their pension strategies to market conditions.

The Commission also positively assessed progress in strengthening the labour market inclusion of vulnerable groups, improving pension adequacy, and supporting sustainable finance initiatives.

Further milestones include the development of adult learning programmes focused on green skills in the construction sector, alongside the integration of seismic data to enhance safety and planning standards.

Progress has also been confirmed in investment projects related to new mobility technologies, including the production and testing of 60 verification prototypes and the testing of autonomous driving systems.

In addition, advances have been made in water management, improved monitoring of agricultural land, upgrades to information systems supporting the functional and actual merger of local government units, and strengthened efforts to combat corruption and organised crime.

Infrastructure development remains a key focus, with the Commission confirming progress on the construction of the 58-kilometre Zlobin–Bosiljevo gas pipeline, an important project for national energy security.

Under its post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Plan, Croatia has access to a total of €10 billion, comprising €5.8 billion in grants and €4.2 billion in loans.

Following the eighth payment, Croatia will have drawn down €7.3 billion, while 62 per cent of all milestones and targets under the national plan have been completed to date.