Review article
Administrative Aspects of Regional and Cohesion Policy in Croatia: In Search of a Better Coordination of Parallel Processes
Vedran Đulabić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2206-7391
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Romea Manojlović
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The paper presents and critically assesses the state of regional and cohesion policy in Croatia with an emphasis on the new policy, legal, and institutional frameworks in the context of general administrative reforms and the process of decentralization. Two parallel development processes can be noticed. The first one is connected with the earlier activities on the preparation of policy, legal, and institutional frameworks for regional policy, while the other is more related to the broader context of IPA implementation and previous instruments of preaccession assistance in Croatia, namely CARDS, PHARE and ISPA. These processes sometimes run on parallel tracks that are not adequately connected, which has led to, or is a result of, institutional fragmentation and weak administrative coordination between several central administrative bodies, formally in charge of these policy areas. The level of involvement of the regional and local
actors as well as the economic and social partners also varies in these two areas. The argument in favour of improvement of the overall institutional capacity for better coordination and institutional reshuffling in these two closely interlinked policy areas is intended to be strengthened. The paper uses a case study and covers the development of the Croatian regional and cohesion policy after 2005,
when the main policy and legal documents were drafted and when institutional framework was developed.
Keywords
regional and cohesion policy – Croatia; regional development; decentralization; institutional capacity; administrative coordination; administrative reform
Hrčak ID:
131855
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2011.
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