ANALYSIS OF THE NON UTILIZATION OF FUNDS IPA PREACCESSION ASSISTANCE ... 873 ANALYSIS OF THE (NON) UTILIZATION OF FUNDS IPA PRE-ACCESSION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS AT THE LEVEL OF EX PANNONIA CROATIAN AND POSSIBILITIES OF USING FINANCIAL RESOURCES OF THE STRUCTURAL INSTRUMENTS Dražen Ćućić Ph.D. 1 , Domagoj Karačić Ph.D. 2 , Ivan Kristek Ph.D. 3 1 Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Republic of Croatia, dcucic@efos.hr 2 Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Republic of Croatia, karacic@efos.hr 3 Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Republic of Croatia, ikristek@efos.hr Abstract Programs ECHO and OBNOVA was first assistance programs which the Euro- pean Union pursued in the Republic of Croatia in the period since 1991 to 2000. ese programs have greatly helped in the return of refugees, reconstruction of war-torn areas, humanitarian action, and freedom of speech. Assistance program CARDS and pre-accession programs PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD have been active since 2000 to 2007, when they are replaced by a single IPA program. e main aim and purpose of the IPA program is providing assistance to candi- date countries and potential candidate countries in the harmonization and imple- mentation of legal, political and economic acquis communautaire and to prepare them for the use of the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds. is paper analyses the competence of project managers, barriers to application and implementation of the projects (the inability to pre-finance and co-financing, the complexity of application procedures, the adequacy of human resources, lan- guage barriers, and lack of defined strategic priorities, not preparation of project documentation, lack of motivated managers and project team members). Research results will help organizational units in the Republic of Croatia to more effectively use the resources of the Structural instruments with the aim of further regional development.