Real Or Declarative Readiness Of Stakeholders For European Union Funds?

In the moment when approaching of Republic of Croatia to the European Union is pretty obvious, stakeholders on various levels, in the counties, towns, municipalities and stakeholders from various spheres of socio-economic life, are putting attention on necessity of use of the EU funds. Regarding to that fact, there is logical question, is this orientation on EU funds and EU projects only verbal and declarative, or it is supported and followed by needed capacities or readiness to build this capacities? Currently available data on funds that will be on disposal for Croatia by the end of 2013, tell us that there will be so huge amount of funds, that it will be real challenge to use most of that funds. On the other side, related to regional development which is conducting through the EU funds, we have paradox situation, that the counties of ex NUTS II Pannonia region have biggest need for regional and other development, because they are less developed, at the same time for reaching of that biggest development they need the largest and highest capacity, which they surely don’t have. Just opposite, according to their macroeconomic indicators they have smallest capacity among the other NUT II regions, at leastthe financial ones. While other types of stakeholder’s absorption capacity of can be building over time, it generally does not apply to fi nancial capacity, at least for those stakeholders who do not have the aim and function of the accomplishing and maximizing profi t, while they have a different role in the socio-economic environment. However that is just one of the challenges faced by stakeholders in the field, at the moment of planning to prepare projects for EU funds or when they develop their project ideas. In this paper will be presented some results of the research that was conducted through a survey among the stakeholders in the ex Pannonia region, with aim to analyse challenges that they face in the process before and during the development of their project ideas or their projects for applying on EU funds