This presentation was made by Mladenka Karacic, Croatia, at the 12th Annual Meeting of OECD-CESEE Senior Budget Officials held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 28-29 June 2016

1. Ministry of Finance
Budget flexibility, agility and readiness
to meet demands: Countries’
experience with regard to immigration
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
June 2016

2. Ministry of Finance
 According to official data of the Ministry of Interior of the
Republic of Croatia, 658,068 migrants entered Croatia from
the very start of the migration crisis until 04 March 2016, out
of which 558,724 came in 2015
 Almost all of them left Croatia and continued their journey
towards West Europe, while 162 persons requested asylum
in Croatia until April 2016
 Due to a significant inflow of refugees and migrants from
Serbia in the early Autumn, sometimes as much as 10,000
people a day, a reception centre was opened in Opatovac
(near the Serbian border)
 Due to nearing Winter, the reception centre in Opatovac
was closed and a new one was opened in Slavonski Brod,
through which around 340,000 migrants have passed

3. Ministry of Finance
 Hundreds of policemen and members of numerous civil
institutions and services have been engaged for the
reception of migrants, creating significant costs
 Those costs refer to transport, consumed buffer stock,
provided healthcare services, workforce costs – policemen,
members of the national rescue service, Red Cross costs...
 Required funds have been provided from:
amendments to the 2015 State Budget
budget reserves
donations
European Union aid

4. Ministry of Finance
 In the 2016 State Budget the funds for migrant housing and
assistance have been planned on the following items:
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Social Policy and Youth
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
National Protection and Rescue Directorate
Buffer Stock Directorate
Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National
Minorities

5. Ministry of Finance
 On 1 December 2015 the Ministry of Interior of the
Republic of Croatia and the European Commission signed
agreements on allocation of funds from
Emergency assistance under the Asylum, Migration and
Integration Fund
Internal Security Fund – external borders
 Utilisation of 6 months – from 16 September 2015 until 15
March 2016
 Total amount EUR 16,431,487.08

6. Ministry of Finance
 The agreements clearly define activities eligible for funding
from the approved funds in the amount of 90% expenditure
exclusive of VAT
 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund – project “Meeting
the demands related to mass inflow of third country
nationals who may be in need of international protection”
 total allocated amount of EUR 12,436,485.41
 Internal Security Fund – project “Strengthening external
borders related to irregular mass inflow of third country
nationals”
 total allocated amount of EUR 3,995,001.67

7. Ministry of Finance
 In December 2015 Croatia received from the European
Commission 80% of the allocated amount of HRK 100.3
million (EUR 13.1 million EUR):
HRK 75,896,885.72 from the Asylum, Migration and
Integration Fund
HRK 24,424,002.04 from the Internal Security Fund
 The total of HRK176.1 million were spent for refugee crisis
costs in the period from 15 September 2015 until 14 April
2016, out of which
HRK 102.9 from budget reserves
HRK 73.2 million from EU funds (from the Asylum,
Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security
Fund)

8. Ministry of Finance
 On 11 March 2016 the Ministry of Interior sent a request to
the European Commission to prolong both agreements on
emergency assistance
 Deadline for utilisation of the Internal Security Fund has
been prolonged by one month because the allocated funds
have been almost fully utilised
 Deadline for utilisation of the Asylum, Migration and
Integration Fund has been prolonged by six months (until
September 2016) – some EUR 6.7 millions have not yet
been utilised

9. Ministry of Finance
 Croatia undertook to participate in the European programme
for relocation and resettlement of third country nationals or
stateless persons meeting conditions for receiving
international protection
 Several ministries and state institutions, forming a cross-
sectoral task force, participate in the development of a
systematic solution to resettlement, reception and
integration of asylum seekers
 The task force’s task is to develop an Operative plan for
programme implementation of housing and integration of
persons to be granted international protection
 The Ministry of Social Policy and Youth’s task is to develop
a relocation plan per counties on the entire Croatian territory
according to two criteria – number of county residents and
GDP amount

10. Ministry of Finance
 A person who has been granted international protection,
provided he/she does not have any income, assets or does
not support any dependant persons, will be recognised right
to accommodation in the duration of up to two years from
the date of receiving such status
 The State Office for Reconstruction and Housing Care is in
charge of accommodation
 A person who has been granted international protection
status will have all the rights arising from the social care
system, under the same conditions as other citizens with
permanent residence in Croatia

11. Ministry of Finance
 Accommodation is expected to be arranged for the first
group of foreign nationals, and until the end of 2017 the total
of 1613 persons should receive housing under two
programmes:
relocation from one EU member state into another and
resettlement from third countries (Turkey, Jordan) into EU
 The State Office for Human Rights and Rights of National
Minorities is coordinating the integration process of persons
who have been granted international protection
 In Croatia, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and
the Ministry of Social Policy will participate in the reception
programme

12. Ministry of Finance
 Apart from accommodating migrants in transit and asylum
seekers, Croatia is also participating in joint operations in
other countries
 The Ministry of the Interior deployed police officers to the
Frontex joint operation Poseidon Rapid Intervention,
launched in order to return illegal migrants from the Greek
island of Chios to Turkey
 Police vessel Sveti Dujam participated in the Poseidon
Sea 2015 operation at the Greek-Turkey sea border,
assisting the Greek in searching and rescuing migrants
and refugees in the East Mediterranean
 Our police officers on the Andrija Mohorovičić ship have
also participated in the Triton rescue operations