by Claudio Del Frate
The decision is made by the summit of 27 interior ministers. At the beginning of the year Zagreb will also introduce the euro. The consequences (and benefits) for Italy
From January 1, 2023, Croatia will also join the Schengen area. This means that there are no border controls for anyone entering the country of the former Yugoslavia from another Union state. On the same day, Zagreb officially introduced the euro as its official currency. In this way, the main remaining walls that separated Croatia from the rest of the already united Europe will fall.
The decision to extend the limits of free movement in Europe was adopted yesterday during the summit of the 27 interior ministers in Brussels. and was announced by the Government of the Czech Republic, the current President of the EU. the first time in ten years that the Schengen area has expanded. Romania and Bulgaria, on the other hand, although they joined the Union before Croatia, still have to wait: their request to join on free movement clashed with a no from Austria and the Netherlands, concerned about uncontrolled flows of internal migration triggering. EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she was disappointed with the opposition towards Bulgarians and Romanians. In addition to the EU area (excluding Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus), the Schengen area also includes Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein.
Also from January 1st, Croatia will become the twentieth country on the Old Continent to adopt the euro at the end of a decades-long preparation process. For a period of two weeks, both the new currency (the kuna) will be in circulation. The Zagreb government passed all the inflation, public debt and deficit tests to join the euro club. Currency-wise, integration between Croatia and the rest of Europe was already a reality: many shops and hotels had been accepting the ticket issued by the ECB for some time.
The fall of these two important barriers, such as currency and passenger traffic, will also have a significant impact in Italy. The most immediate impact could be felt by tourists traveling to Croatia’s seaside resorts: although Zagreb does not share a physical border with Italy, the queues at the crossings for those who choose to spend their holidays across the Adriatic are said to reduce controls by motorists of transit will disappear. Benefits are also expected in trading exchanges, which are currently approaching EUR 4 billion in volume.
December 8, 2022 (change December 8, 2022 | 18:38)
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