A Commission staff working document published on 24 June 2026 assesses Croatia's digital performance under the Digital Decade policy programme, finding strong connectivity and strategic technology assets but persistent weaknesses in SME digitalisation, digital skills, and ICT specialist pipelines. The report, issued as a Council cover note, forms part of the broader State of the Digital Decade 2026 communication.
Croatia set 13 of 14 possible national Digital Decade targets, with 77% aligned with EU 2030 goals and 54% of 2025 trajectory points on track. The country addressed 88% of eight Commission recommendations made in 2025, though 39% of measures end by end-2026. The total public budget allocated is EUR 106 million, representing 17% of the roadmap total.
very high-capacity network (VHCN) coverage reaches 82.68% (EU average 85.54%), fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) 77.94% (EU 74.13%), and 5G coverage 97.78% (EU 96.79%). However, SME digitalisation lags: only 57.1% of SMEs have at least basic digital intensity (EU 71.4%), cloud uptake is 43.3% (EU 46.7%), and AI uptake 15.2% (EU 20.0%). At least basic digital skills are held by 63.4% of the population (EU 60.4%), while ICT specialists make up 4.9% of employment (EU 5.0%).
A major setback is the termination of 17 RRF-funded broadband contracts, originally planned to cover approximately 700,000 inhabitants; now only about 40,136 households remain connected. Croatia allocates 21% of its recovery plan to digital (EUR 1.5 billion), with cohesion policy adding EUR 0.9 billion (10% of total).
boosting SME technology uptake, improving ICT and digital skills, enhancing rural connectivity, advancing digital public services, scaling up finance for digitalisation, integrating green and digital transitions, and strengthening cybersecurity resilience. The document does not specify next institutional steps, but the findings will feed into the Commission's annual Digital Decade reporting and may inform future country-specific recommendations under the European Semester.
Croatian SMEs face pressure to adopt digital tools to close the gap with EU peers, while the government must address the disrupted rural broadband roll-out and invest in digital skills training. ICT providers may see opportunities in cloud and AI services, but the terminated broadband contracts signal reduced public investment in rural infrastructure. EU institutions will use the report to monitor Croatia's progress toward 2030 targets and may adjust funding or policy guidance accordingly.