ZAGREB, 1 Jan 2023:
Croatia today joined the Schengen area of visa free movement and switched its currency to the euro, a decade after joining the European Union (EU).
At midnight that brought in the new year, barricades were lifted at Croatia’s 73 border crossings with Slovenia and Hungary – marking its assimilation into the Schengen area.
Croatian interior minister Davor Bozinovic and his Slovenian counterpart, Sanja Ajanovic, welcomed the new year by jointly lifting the barrier at the Bregana-Obrezje crossing between the two countries, and toasted with a glass of champagne.
“We opened our doors to borderless Europe. This goes beyond eliminating border controls, it is the final affirmation of our European identity,” Bozinovic said.
Simultaneously, a similar ceremony was held at the Croato-Hungarian border crossing of Gorican-Letenye, presided over by Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic Radman and Hungarian MP Peter Cseresnyes.
In many other parts of the country too Croatians celebrated their integration into the Schengen area as its 27th member.
This also coincided with the country switching their currency to the euro.
Finance minister Marko Primorac and Croatian National Bank governor Boris Vujcic took part in a symbolic act in the centre of Zagreb, withdrawing the first banknotes of the European currency in the Balkan country from an ATM.
– EFE