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

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

CARDS1 FINANCIAL STATISTICS Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds PHARE 262 million € under national component million € million € million € million € Participation in regional projects (199 million €) million € in total million € million € 3ISPA 60 million € in total million € million € 4SAPARD million €

CARDS PHARE SAPARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ISPA

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

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

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

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

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

IPA Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds

IPA Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds CHALLENGES PROGRAMMING1 Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds INSTITUTION BUILDING Multi-annual with clear definition of national priorities 2 Alignment of structures to the requirements for Structural Funds operations:  Managing Authority Managing Authority  Implementing Agency Implementing Agency  Certifying Authority Certifying Authority  Audit Authority Audit Authority  Monitoring Committee Monitoring Committee 3LEGAL FRAMEWORK Public procurement State aid/Competition Budgetary and financial provisions Environment protection

CROATIAN EXPERIENCE Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds SOME LESSONS LEARNT PROGRAMMING1 Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds INSTITUTION BUILDING Clear establishment of national priorities Ability to select the priorities of priorities (arbitration function of NAC) Continuous programming exercise (project pipeline) 2 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 And………. The EC is your partner in the process. We all share the same goal!

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