Today's grant payment to Croatia in the amount of EUR 700 million (not including pre-financing) was made after Croatia achieved 25 key milestones and targets associated with the second payment. This includes reforms and investments in the areas of public administration, justice, social policy, employment, education, skills, energy and energy efficiency, water management and connectivity.

As for all member states, payments under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism are performance-based and depend on whether Croatia implements reforms from the Recovery and Resilience Plans.

The overall plan for the recovery and resilience of Croatia will be financed with grants in the amount of 5.5 billion euros. On September 28, 2021, Croatia already received a pre-financing payment in the amount of EUR 818 million, followed by the first payment under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism in the amount of EUR 700 million on June 28, 2022. Amounts disbursed to Member States are published in the Recovery and Resilience Indicator Table which shows progress in the implementation of the overall Recovery Mechanism, as well as progress in individual Recovery and Resilience Plans.

Yesterday, on December 8, 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision on the full application of the Schengen acquis in Croatia.

From 1 January 2023, checks on persons at internal land and sea borders between Croatia and the other countries in the Schengen area will be lifted. Checks at internal air borders will be lifted from 26 March 2023, given the need for this to coincide with the dates of IATA summer/winter time schedule.

From 1 January 2023 Croatia will also start to issue Schengen visas and will be able to make full use of the Schengen Information System.

Since its accession to the EU, Croatia has applied parts of the Schengen acquis, including those related to the external border controls, police cooperation and the use of the Schengen Information System.

The remaining parts of the Schengen acquis, which include the lifting of controls at internal borders and related measures, can only become applicable following a unanimous decision by the Council after it has been verified, in accordance with the applicable Schengen evaluation procedures, that they fulfil the necessary conditions. In December 2021, the Council concluded that the necessary conditions were fulfilled by Croatia.