If Croatia is to gain the full benefits of EU funding, it must learn lessons from other new EU member states.

This July, Croatia is set to become the EU’s newest member state. EU accession will bring with it access to structural and cohesion funding to enhance economic development. However, as Luka Oreskovic writes, there is a danger that Croatia’s government, administration, and private sectors may lack the capacity to absorb this funding, as has been the case in other new EU states in Central and Eastern Europe.