ZAGREB: Croatia on Sunday switched to the euro and entered Europe’s passport-free zone — two major milestones for the country after joining the European Union nearly a decade ago.
At midnight, the Balkan nation bid farewell to its kuna currency and became the 20th member of the eurozone.
It is now the 27th nation in the passport-free Schengen zone, the world’s largest, which enables more than 400 million people to move freely around its members. “It is the season of new beginnings. And there is no place in Europe where this is more true than here in Croatia,” tweeted EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, as she arrived in Croatia to mark the occasion.
She met Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar at a border crossing with EU member Slovenia, and was then to head on to Zagreb.
Experts say the adoption of the euro will help shield Croatia’s economy at a time when inflation is soaring worldwide after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent food and fuel prices through the roof.
But feelings among Croatians are mixed.
While they welcome the end of border controls, some fear the euro switch will lead to an increase in the cost of living as businesses round up prices when they convert them.
“It will be difficult. Prices that are already high will become even higher,” said Ivana Toncic, a teacher from Zagreb.
But tourist agency employee Marko Pavic said Croatia was joining “an elite club”.
“The euro was already a value measure — psychologically it’s nothing new — while entry into Schengen is fantastic news for tourism,” he told AFP.
Use of the euro is already widespread in Croatia.
Croatians have long valued their most precious assets such as cars and apartments in euros, displaying a lack of confidence in the local currency.
About 80 percent of bank deposits are denominated in euros and Zagreb’s main trading partners are in the eurozone.
Officials have defended the decision to join the eurozone and Schengen, saying that the country thus completes its full EU integration.
Croatia, a former Yugoslav republic of 3.9 million people that fought a war of independence in the 1990s, joined the European Union in 2013.
Experts say the adoption of the euro will lower borrowing conditions amid economic hardship.