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Commission approves prolongation of Croatian scheme under Recovery and Resilience Facility to support access to high-speed broadband services in underserved areas

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The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules, the prolongation until the end of 2026 of an existing Croatian scheme, currently set to expire at the end of 2023, to support the roll out of Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband services in underserved areas. While the total budget of €252 million of the scheme remains unchanged, funding will come in part from  the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF'), following the Commission's positive assessment of the Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by Council. The RRF funds, amounting to €106.2 million, will replace previous loans from the European Investment Bank, and will be provided in addition to existing support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and other national funds. In line with the Croatian broadband strategy, the existing scheme supports the gradual deployment of NGA-networks country-wide, in areas where currently no NGA broadband infrastructure is in place or planned to be developed in the next three years.

The Commission assessed the measure under EU state aid rules, in particular the 2013 Broadband Guidelines, and concluded that the scheme's positive effects on competition and on broadband connectivity continue to outweigh potential negative effects brought about by the public intervention. On this basis, the Commission approved the measure under EU state aid rules. The Commission assesses measures entailing state aid contained in the national recovery plans presented in the context of the RRF as a matter of priority and has provided guidance and support to member states in the preparatory phases of the national plans, to facilitate the rapid deployment of the RRF. The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.100662 in the state aid case register on the Commission's competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved.

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