The EIB Board of Directors’ first ever meeting in Zagreb highlights ongoing support to Croatian economy

• EIB Board of Directors meets in Zagreb, Croatia to extend EU Bank`s support for the upcoming historic first-ever Croatian presidency of the European Council;
• EIB President Werner Hoyer meets Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic;
• In the first nine months of 2019 EIB has supported projects in Croatia with EUR 342.5 million of finance.

In the first nine months of 2019, the European Investment Bank (EIB) supported projects in the Republic of Croatia worth EUR 342.5 million. The EU Bank invested EUR 212.2 million in Croatian small and medium businesses, the backbone of national economy, and in the process sustained more than 47,500 Croatian jobs. Since 2001 total EIB lending in Croatia has surpassed EUR 6 billion.

President of the EIB Werner Hoyer presented the figures to the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic at a meeting on Tuesday in Zagreb, and reviewed the EIB’s activities in the country. The upcoming Croatian Presidency of the European Council was also on the agenda; it is the historic first for the country and the European Union it joined in 2013.

President of the EIB, Werner Hoyer said, “The EIB will continue to provide concrete, hands-on support to Croatia, working alongside our partners in the Croatian Government and within the business community, to strengthen sustainable growth and employment in the country. We are very proud of the way EIB serves Croatian citizens and their economy and the Bank is thankful to our local partners such as HBOR for their support in this process. I am very happy to see the high level of support EIB enjoys from the Croatian authorities in tackling the major challenges of today, including climate change – which is a top priority for the EIB”.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said, “We are proud to say that that cooperation with EIB has a long-reaching positive effect on Croatian economy, since it stimulates SME growth, export growth, development of new products and technologies as well as improvement of infrastructure. In that respect, cooperation of EIB and HBOR, as a most important local partner, significantly contributed to rising economic needs through a total of EUR 3 billion EIB lending to HBOR since 2001”.

One of the flagship projects for the EIB is the cooperation with the KBC Rijeka, a leading hospital and university center in the third largest city in Croatia. Based on both advisory assistance to prepare complex project documentation and EUR 50 million loan, around 600,000 citizens of Croatia gravitating around the hospital will have their Clinical Centre and University Hospital improved. With Rijeka being a major tourist destination, the project will also translate into quality healthcare for millions of Europeans visiting Croatian seaside.

The President and the Prime Minister met during the EIB monthly Board of Director`s two-day meeting in Zagreb. Together with the Board of Governors and the Management Committee the Board of Directors is one of the three decision making bodies of the EIB. The Board`s meets in Zagreb in the eve of the upcoming Croatian Presidency of the European Council due on January 1, 2020.