IPA Component I: Institution building

The core activity under IPA Component I is Institution Building, with priorities in the fields of the political and economic criteria as well as ability to assume the obligations of membership with a particular focus on the justice and home affairs and the public administration reform sectors. Institution building also includes supporting programmes aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity for the management of EU funds as well as covering Croatia's participation in Community Programmes:

Civil society: Every year we have a project on civil society which aims to enhance the impact of Croatian civil society organisations (CSOs) on acquis-related policies and the upgrading of civil society dialogue, particularly in the fields of: fight against corruption; prevention of violence among youth and fostering of youth volunteering; equal opportunities and non-discrimination; sustainable development and environment protection.

IPA Component II: Cross- border cooperation

The core activity under IPA component II is Cross-border Cooperation. IPA 2007 and 2008 programmes support cooperation with bordering Member States (Hungary, Italy and Slovenia) and also include a new generation of cross border-programmes (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia) as well as participation of Croatia in the European Territorial Co-operation trans-national programmes "South-East Europe" and "Mediterranean".

IPA Components III, IV & V: Preparation towards Community's cohesion policy as well as agriculture and rural development policy

Assistance under IPA Components III (Regional Development), IV (Human Resources Development) and V (Agriculture and Rural Development) aims at preparing Croatia for participation in the Community's cohesion as well as agriculture and rural development policies.

IPA Components III, IV & V: Preparation towards Community's cohesion policy as well as agriculture and rural development policy

Assistance under IPA Components III (Regional Development), IV (Human Resources Development) and V (Agriculture and Rural Development) aims at preparing Croatia for participation in the Community's cohesion as well as agriculture and rural development policies.

IPA Components III, IV & V: Preparation towards Community's cohesion policy as well as agriculture and rural development policy

Assistance under IPA Components III (Regional Development), IV (Human Resources Development) and V (Agriculture and Rural Development) aims at preparing Croatia for participation in the Community's cohesion as well as agriculture and rural development policies.

The purpose of support under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) programme is to help candidate and potential candidate countries and territories – the Beneficiaries – to progress towards fully meeting the Copenhagen political and economic criteria as well as adopting and implementing the EU acquis. The Multi-beneficiary actions will complement and add value to the support given under the National Programmes.

Transition and Schengen facilities

The Accession Treaty for Croatia provides that after the day of accession Croatia will also benefit from specific instruments for transitional financial assistance. This assistance will consist of a "Transition Facility", a "Schengen Facility, and a "cash-flow facility", as detailed below.

The Transition Facility will provide temporary financial assistance to Croatia in order to further develop and strengthen its administrative and judicial capacity to implement and enforce Union. A total of EUR 29 million will be allocated under this Facility in 2013.

The Schengen Facility will be a temporary instrument to help Croatia between the date of accession and the end of 2014 to finance actions at the new external borders of the Union for the implementation of the Schengen acquis and external border control. Under this Facility Croatia will receive EUR 40 million in 2013 and EUR 80 million in 2014.

Finally, a special temporary "cash-flow facility" will be made available to Croatia in order to mitigate the impact of the full application immediately after accession of the acquis governing the contributions made by Member States to the EU budget. While Croatia will make the payments due to the EU budget after the accession, there will be a time lag until the actual payments will be made under the financial instruments available to Croatia. In order to improve the net budgetary position of Croatia, especially in the first year after accession, under the cash-flow facility EUR 75 million will be made available to Croatia in 2013, and EUR 28.6 in 2014.