Croatia adopted the euro on Sunday and joined the free movement Schengen area, two milestones for this small Balkan country that became independent in 1991 and entered the European Union (EU) in 2013.
(Also: Benedict XVI: Preparations to solemnly bid farewell to the pope emeritus)
At midnight on Sunday (23H00 GMT), Croats not only said goodbye to 2022, but also to their national currency, the kuna. The country thus became the twentieth country in the euro zone, out of the 27 that make up the EU.
(Also read: New Russian bombings in Ukraine a few hours after the end of the year)
It also became the 27th country in the Schengen area, a vast area of free movement for the 400 million people who share its internal borders.
This area is mainly made up of EU countries and by Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The President of the European Commission (EU executive), Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in the Balkan country this Sunday to celebrate these two events. “There is nowhere in Europe where the (European) ideal is truer than here in Croatia,” she said in a tweet on Twitter.
(Keep reading: Russia: The Countries Putin Banned From Selling Oil After 2023)
The Commission President first met Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Slovenian President Pirc Musar at a border post between Croatia and Slovenia. From there, she headed to the Croatian capital Zagreb.
Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a war in which some 20,000 people died and since July 2013 it is part of the EU.
Entry into the euro zone and the Schengen area represent “two strategic objectives to achieve greater integration in the EU,” the country’s conservative prime minister had highlighted on Wednesday.
(You can read: Brazil: Lula da Silva assumes a divided country and with an economy in trouble)
Faced with the current energy crisis, accentuated by the war in Ukraine, The Croatian economy suffered inflation of 13.5% in November, higher than the 10% average for the euro zone.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video message released on Sunday that he hopes the euro will bring “monetary stability and soundness” to the Balkan country.
Fear of a price rise
Croatian central bank president Boris Vujcic withdrew euros from an ATM in Zagreb, in a symbolic gesture to welcome the new currency. The euro “will surely bring greater stability and security” to the economy, Ana Sabic, a central bank official, told AFP.
The single currency is already very present in a tourist country like Croatia, where 80% of bank deposits are in that currency and most of their companies’ international clients come from EU countries.
(Also: Guaidó’s ‘interim government’ in Venezuela has come to an end: what next?)
However, the ordinary population fears that the change of currency will accentuate inflation. “We will miss our kuna, as prices will rise explosively,” lamented Drazen Golemac, 63, a retired resident of the capital Zagreb, a few days before the currency change.
Instead, most Croats welcome the end of border controls with entry into the Schengen area.
This decision will also strengthen the tourism sector in a country that during the last year received a number of visitors four times higher than its population of almost 4 million inhabitants.
Several Croatian ministers met after midnight on Saturday with other leaders from neighboring countries, such as Slovenia or Hungary, to celebrate their incorporation into the area of free movement.
(Keep reading: The political tension that looms in the US with the possession of the new Congress)
Tonight we celebrate the New Year and a new Europe with Croatia in Schengen.
“Tonight we celebrate the New Year and a new Europe with Croatia in Schengen,” Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said from a Slovenian border post.
A total of 73 border posts stopped carrying out controls as of Sunday. In the case of airports, the end of controls will take place on March 26, for technical reasons.
But Zagreb will instead restrictively monitor the arrival of clandestine migrants from neighboring non-EU countries such as Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Croatia lies in the middle of the Western Balkans route, used by many migrants, as well as arms, drug and human traffickers.
AFP
#country #adopts #euro #enters #area #free #European #movement