Swiss enlargement contribution is an important element of bilateral relations between Switzerland and Croatia. The Swiss-Croatian programme of cooperation will improve many aspects of bilateral relations, as well as provide an opportunity to promote Switzerland’s sense of solidarity, the establishment of Swiss-Croatian institutional partnerships, the promotion of Swiss presence and visibility as well as the positive use of Swiss knowledge and experience.
The Swiss parliament approved the amount of 45 million CHF in order to reduce economic and social inequalities within the enlarged EU (forty five million CHF) in the period of availability of funds arising from the date on which the contribution was approved by the Swiss Parliament on 11 December 2014, until the end of the period of validity of the legal basis for the contribution, which is 31 May 2017 and the ten-year period of payment, from the date the contribution was approved by the Swiss Parliament.
National co-financing
National co-financing of projects is provided up to 15% of total project value. The Swiss-Croatian programme of cooperation will be implemented by December 2024.
A full range of projects
The Swiss – Croatian cooperation programme will support activities which in a direct way allow the improvement of living standard of Croatian citizens, through projects:
- Demining and socio-economic integration, consisting of demining of a protected forest area and the socio-economic integration of mine victims. For these purposes, a grant of 3 million CHF has been provided.
- Improvement of the water supply infrastructure as well as waste water management at several locations at Gorski Kotar. The implementation of these projects will depend on the final approval of the project documentation. Since the project value is limited to 21,5 million CHF, the Framework Agreement defines the financing of the projects according to a priority rule from one to six, until the funds have been exhausted. Activities concerning the preparation of the project documentation represent eligible costs and are valued at 1,07 million CHF of the whole grant. As a part of this priority it is envisaged financing of three projects of improving water supply infrastructure in the City of Delnice and municipalities of Fužine and Brod Moravice.
- Providing for a favourable career environment for researchers in Croatia through cooperation with a Swiss partner (Ecole polyethnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL). For this project 4 million CHF were granted.
- Providing preconditions for successful scientific and research projects which an aim to establish close cooperation links between Croatia and Switzerland as well as to enable transfer of knowledge, skills and technologies. The value of this grant is 4 million CHF and it will be implemented by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
- Support of future EUROSTARS projects with a grant of 1 million CHF. EUROSTARS is a publicly financed programme, currently supported by 34 EUREKA member countries. It aims at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, active in the research field and striving to develop innovative products, processes and services.
- Promoting the contribution of the civil society to the economic and social cohesion through a grant of 4,8 million CHF.
- Promoting the partnership and bilateral cooperation of the Croatian and Swiss non-profit organisations. The value of the grant is 2 million CHF.
- The rest of the grant is dedicated to the support of the effective and competent management of the Swiss-Croatian cooperation programme within the Framework Agreement.