Dhe Croatian municipality of Bregana is either not known to foreign travelers at all or at most because of involuntary stays: There is a border crossing there, where there are often long traffic jams in the summer, when millions of Germans are vacationing in Croatia (it feels like half of Austria is also there). However, that should be a thing of the past, because Croatia has been part of the Schengen zone since January 1st. This means that the crossing between Croatia and Slovenia in the north (or to Hungary in the north-east, where many Polish tourists come in the summer) will normally be as invisible as all other borders in the Schengen area. On land, the controls will be eliminated immediately, and air traffic will follow at the end of March. Also at the beginning of the year, Croatia has a new currency: the kuna (in English: the marten) is history. Instead, payments will be made in euros in the future.
Croatia and the EU celebrated this Croatian double whammy with a gesture on the first day of the year: “Because of the importance of these two achievements for the citizens of Croatia and the EU, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will become EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on New Year’s Day on the Slovenian-Croatian Welcome to the Obrežje-Bregana border crossing,” the Foreign Ministry in Zagreb announced. According to Croatian media reports, Plenković and von der Leyen then want to drive to nearby Zagreb, drink coffee there and pay for it with brand-new Croatian euro coins.
However, there is little evidence of double-boom euphoria among the Croatian population. Rather, a certain double-boom skepticism must be stated. After all, the Croatian tourism industry is happy about membership in the Schengen zone, which contributes about a fifth of the country’s economic output, more than in almost any other EU country. In business, the abolition of border controls is expected to result in even higher numbers of overnight stays than already. Then the venerable Dubrovnik, whose old town was built centuries ago by pious Christians as a backdrop for the series “Game of Thrones”, should disappear even more thoroughly behind or under scantily clad bodies in the high season, as well as the Dalmatian and Istrian beaches.
Skeptical casualness
Meanwhile, the new currency is being welcomed in Croatia with a casual, slightly skeptical casualness. Not like a long-awaited good friend that you’ve been waiting for for a long time, but more like a somewhat dubious distant relative, about whom you’ve heard a lot and sometimes even good things, but who you don’t quite trust because of his reputation to maintain shady dealings. In an interview with the Zagreb newspaper “Jutarnji List” (morning paper) published on New Year’s Day, Ursula von der Leyen tried to dispel doubts about the new money: “The euro helps to stabilize prices,” assured the head of the commission. She spoke of new investors and jobs that the currency would bring to the country. Small Croatia will also be less susceptible to “external shocks” thanks to participation in the second most important currency in the world. However, many people in Croatia remain sceptical. Certainly, they now share a currency with Germany and the Netherlands. But also with Greece and Italy. Is that really progress? According to Nietzsche, the unofficial motto of Croatia’s introduction of the euro could be: The euro is growing. Woe to him who hides euros.
