Of Briac Trebert
Posted on Jan 1 23 at 8:25 News See my news Follow this media
Croatia will adopt the euro on January 1st (©Rochu_2008 / Adobestock)
That Croatia enters the Eurozone this Sunday, January 1, 2023. It gives up the kuna, its national currency, becoming the 20th member to accept this Sunday the euro as the national currency (after Lithuania 2015).
Numismatists are looking. Minting of coins had started in July and Croatians could already get them. On it you can see a map, a marten whose fur was used as a means of payment in the Middle Ages, or the portrait of the famous inventor Nikola Tesla, the father of alternating current.
The engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins. (©Croatian National Bank)
A competition created by the government
The portraits were chosen by the population after a competition announced by the government, the Croatian National Bank explains:
- On the red 1, 2 and 5 cent coins you will find a symbol of the Glagolitic alphabet, the oldest Slavic alphabet.
- The portrait of Nikola Tesla can be found on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins.
- A marten adorns the 1 euro coin. The word kuna means marten in Croatian.
- The map of Croatia on the 2 euro coin.
The Council of the European Union has decided on a fixed exchange rate between the euro and the kuna of 7.53450 kuna for 1 euro for 2023.
The 1 euro coin represents a marten. (©Croatian National Bank)
The Balkan country with a population of 4 million is thus joining the single currency almost nine years after joining the European Union. “Croatia conducts more than two thirds of its foreign trade with the European Union. Since joining the EU, this share has increased for both exports and imports,” notes the Banque de France in a statement on its website.
The 2 euro coin features a map of Croatia. (©Croatian National Bank)
Croatia joins the Schengen area this Sunday
As the second republic of the former Yugoslavia to become a member of the European Union after Slovenia in 2013, Croatia will therefore officially join the Schengen area on January 1, 2023. Croatia has become the 27th member of this vast area, where more than 400 million people live and can travel freely, without internal border controls.
As a reminder, the Schengen Agreement was signed on June 14, 1985 in Schengen (Luxembourg) by France, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The Schengen area currently includes 26 countries (22 of the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). Belonging to this area implies that member countries meet certain conditions, including taking responsibility for controlling the EU’s external borders.
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Two other countries, Bulgaria and Romania, are waiting to join the Schengen agreements.
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