Croatia Takes Final Steps into EU With Open Border and Euro Switch

1/1/2022

Croatia Takes Final Steps into EU With Open Border and Euro Switch

Croatia has switched to the euro and entered Europe’s borderless zone – two steps its prime minister called a “historic moment” for his country, which joined the European Union nearly a decade ago.

On Sunday the Balkan country bid farewell to its kuna currency and became the 20th member of the eurozone.

It is also now the 27th country 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 first met Andrej Plenkovic, the prime minister, and the Slovenian president, Natasa Pirc Musar, at a border crossing with EU member Slovenia.

During a joint press conference at the Bregana crossing, Von der Leyen praised “two immense achievements” for the EU’s newest member reached on the same day.

Source:The Guardian