Key factors of insufficient EU funds absorption on the example of SMEs'

Fondovi Europske unije bude zanimanje svih članica, razvijenih i onih manje razvijenih. Svima je cilj „povući” sredstva iz europskog budžeta i realizirati projekte. Zbog oskudnosti sredstava, članice moraju sastaviti programske sporazume koji definiraju na koji način i gdje će sredstva biti usmjerena. Kada se sredstva alociraju pojedinoj članici tada na red dolaze prijavitelji koji putem raspisanih natječaja prijavljuju projekte sufinancirane od EU. Prijavitelji mogu biti širokog spektra, od neprofitnih organizacija, znanstvenih institucija, gospodarskih objekata, jedinica lokalne i regionalne samouprave do poduzeća u akvakulturi. U ovom radu posebna će se pažnja usmjeriti na mikro, male i srednje prijavitelje (MSP) i na izazove i prepreke na koje nailaze prilikom prijave na natječaje, pripreme natječajne dokumentacije i same provedbe projekta. Kako bi se doznali najrecentniji izazovi hrvatskih MSP-ova u 2022. godini i usporedili ih sa izazovima prethodnih financijskih perspektiva, provedeno je istraživanje na uzorku od 126 ispitanika. Otkriveno je da veliki dio razloga slabije apsorpcije leži na radu javnih tijela koji su u sustavu upravljanja i kontrole; točnije u procesu bodovanja natječajne dokumentacije, zakašnjelih prijava zbog fenomena „najbrži prst”, samog pisanja poziva na natječaje, kompliciranih uputa za prijavitelje itd. S druge strane ispitanicima nedostaje znanja, iskustva, stručnosti i kvalitetnih ljudskih resursa u timovima da mogu pripremiti kvalitetan projekt. Cilj istraživanja je bio da ispitanici istaknu osobno viđenje problematike, kritike i preporuke za pojednostavljivanje procesa pripreme i provedbe EU projekata, kako bi apsorpcija bila veća, a trošak „nepovlačenja” manji.European Union funds are of interest to all members, developed and those less developed. Everyone's goal is to "withdraw" funds from the European budget and run projects. Due to the scarcity of funds, members must draw up partnership agreements that define how and where the funds will be directed. As soon as the funds are allocated to each member individually, it is the applicants' turn to apply for EU-funded projects through tenders. Applicants can be of a wide range, from non-profit organizations, scientific institutions, economic facilities, local and regional authority units to aquaculture companies. In this paper, special attention will be placed on micro, small and medium-sized applicants (SMEs) and on the challenges and obstacles they encountered when applying for tenders, preparing tender documents, and implementing the project itself. In interest to find out the most recent challenges of Croatian SMEs' in 2022 and compare them with the challenges of previous financial perspectives, a survey was conducted on 126 respondents. It was discovered that a large part of the reason for lower absorption lies in the work of public bodies that operate in the system of management and control; more precisely in the process of scoring tender documents, late applications due to the "fastest finger first" phenomenon, the writing of calls for proposals, complicated application guidelines, etc. On the other hand, respondents lack knowledge, experience, expertise, and quality human resources in their teams to be able to prepare a quality project. The aim of the research was for respondents to highlight their personal views on the obstacles, criticize and offer recommendations for simplifying the process of preparation and implementation of EU projects so that absorption would be higher, and the cost of "no-absorption" lower