The Republic of Croatia benefited from the IPA Rural Development Programme (IPARD) until its accession to the EU on 1 July 2013. Funds from the IPARD programme supported 691 projects in Croatian counties by the end of 2016. Measure 301 of the IPARD programme aimed at improving and developing rural infrastructure. This article examines the geographical distribution of IPARD projects across Croatian counties and the implications of Measure 301 on transport and communal infrastructure in Istrian County. The research relies on primary and secondary data from scientific articles, studies and dissertations. Original analysis results show that Istria and Osijek-Baranja counties were the most successful, with 114 and 81 projects, respectively, while Lika-Senj and Sibenik-Knin counties implemented only nine projects in total. In Istria County, 14.9% of projects were in less developed municipalities, and 85.1% were in more developed ones. These projects improved transport connections and municipal water infrastructure, enhancing the quality of life in Istrian municipalities and cities. These findings have broader implications for EU pre-accession assistance currently being implemented in western Balkan countries and Turkey. The Croatian experience demonstrates that pre-accession instruments, despite intentions to support convergence, may inadvertently reinforce territorial disparities when programme design fails to account for differential regional absorption capacity. The article contributes to debates on territorial cohesion by providing empirical evidence of how administrative complexity, co-financing requirements and reimbursement mechanisms systematically disadvantage less developed regions insights applicable to pre-accession instrument design across candidate countries.
Tomislav Belovari (Tue,) studied this question.