Areas of Special State Concern
Areas of Special State Concern or ASSC in Croatia are areas of relative underdevelopment compared to the rest of the country in which Croatian Government implements certain policies aimed at achieving balanced regional development. In addition to challenges faced by many other non-urban communities in Croatia, the ASSC areas face specific challenges which are a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence, and include the return and reintegration of war refugees, lack of entrepreneurial capacity and support for business, destroyed or inadequate infrastructure, land under land-mines and insufficient social reintegration.
Categories
The Areas are subdivided into three categories:- The First Category is covering settlements directly on the state border which were under the rebel control during the war and whose seat is less than 15 km away from the border and have less than 5,000 inhabitants according to the 1991 census as well as the entire area of the former self-proclaimed Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.
- The Second Category covers all the other regions which were under the rebel control but are not in the first category.
- The Third Category includes areas which are lagging behind the rest of the country in its development. Particular financial contribution to the Government activities in the ASSC areas is provided by the Regional Development Fund established in 2001.