Winners of the Best City 2020

Published: 23.10.2020.

Three years ago, the project and the prestigious Best City competition were launched, and this year, for the first time, the selection of the best cities includes the awarding of the best EU projects with the aim of numerous European city projects being examples of better quality of life in cities and counties.

The title was fought for by the cities that in the last three years have most recognized the importance and potential of using EU funds in financing their projects. EU projects are the driver of progress and infrastructure in most of our cities, which is why the category of Champion of EU funds has been introduced in a large selection of the best cities. Almost 12,000 projects in Croatia are currently financed with EU money.

This year, the titles of the best cities in this selection were taken by 10 cities in 4 competitions (quality of life, economy, education and demography, EU funds), with the award for the best city in withdrawing money from the EU fund only one, and the other 3 competitions the best among large, medium and small cities are chosen. 28 out of 128 Croatian cities were shortlisted, according to Jutarnji list, the Gradonačelnik.hr portal and the Ipsos agency.

The best cities in the economy category are Hvar, Sveta Nedelja and Samobor, as the best big city in the economy category, confirming its economic strength and potential for the third year in a row. There is no surtax, in the top 5 cities it is in terms of average income per capita and average source income per capita, and in the top 10 in terms of the number of craftsmen per 1,000 inhabitants.

In the category of demography and education, Cres, Labin and Šibenik won, and in the category of all categories - quality of life - the best are Krk, which for the second year in a row managed to defend the title of the best small town to live in, Rovinj and Čakovec. The champion of EU funds is the City of Virovitica, and as part of the elections for the Best City, the winners of the elections for the best county EU project were announced. The biggest success this year was achieved by the City of Sveta Nedelja, the only city that managed to beat the competition three times in a row and win the title of the best city for the economy in the country.

In the great and fierce competition, the victorious cities had great trump cards that helped them to deservedly win. In the special category of selection of the best county EU projects, the project Creating a Stimulating Entrepreneurial Environment in Sisak-Moslavina County won with the establishment of the PISMO-Novska Business Incubator of Sisak-Moslavina County.

You can follow most of the winning cities live via our webcams at attractive locations.