27 ms·
Croatia to switch to euro, enter passport-free Schengen zone
- yieldcrv 4y agoCongratulations Croatia! Sad that means once less country I can get a passport stamp from, but glad it means less hassle.
- Svip 4y agoYou can still _sort of_ get a stamp from them. When you enter/leave the Schengen area, you get a stamp. The stamp will indicate which country you entered/left the Schengen area. (Obviously, if you have a passport from within the Schengen area, you get no stamp.) Then again, I've also noticed that US passport control has stopped stamping my passport.
- matsur 4y agoYou can still ask US passport control for a stamp if you really want one.
- et-al 4y agoA handful of airports are no longer stamping. So maybe you can ask for a stamp, but in the near future I assume that will not be a possibility at all. https://ogletree.com/insights/cbp-expands-pilot-program-eliminating-entry-stamps-on-admission-to-the-united-states/ https://ogletree.com/insights/cbp-expands-pilot-program-elim...
- haunter 4y agoYou can most certainly get one if you arrive by cruise/ship which left a non-EU port
- nikanj 4y agoThey will happily stamp your passport if you ask them
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoQuestions from a financially illiterate: does the switch to Euros carry any disadvantages to average Croatian citizens? I could be wrong but I seem to remember other EU countries like the Czechs, Sweden and Denmark intentionally avoiding the switch to Euro despite being eligible, and from some articles I read recently, other countries like Finland and Netherlands regretting the switch from their currency as they don't want to have to suffer the proposed persistent high inflation and be punished for being financially responsible in order to help countries like Greece or Italy pay their huge debt. Also, an older Italian gentleman I spoke to once told me that after their switch to Euros, their prices shot up but wages didn't. Curious how true this is and if the same could happen in Croatia. Does having control of your own currency that's not pegged to the USD/Euro carry any advantages anymore if you're not someone like China ar is it pointless now?
- wheels 4y agoIt could. It means that inflation / deflation will be linked to the wider EU economy and not responsive to the particular economic conditions of Croatia. This was a big deal in Greece when inflation would have helped their economy by boosting exports, but was impossible because of being tied to the much stronger economies of Western Europe. There are some advantages to being on the Euro, but macroeonomically, it more benefits large stable countries (which then have an artificially depressed currency) like Germany and France.
- tgv 4y agoAnd since the coin is now tied to the rest of Europe, it becomes more attractive for members from other EU states to buy property in Croatia, or live there as a pensionado. This can drive the (housing) prices upwards.
- cjbgkagh 4y agoThe panacea to the worlds economic problems, ever increasing cost of housing.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
- Doctor_Fegg 4y ago*weeps in UK
- supr_strudl 4y agoHello fellow Croatians. Congratulations and all good. Your Slovenian neighbor, who very much enjoys visiting Croatia.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- moffkalast 4y agoTIL I'm not the only Slovenian on HN, neat. Also username checks out.
- tryfinally 4y agoCroatia is immensely beautiful! My plans to see the world have been on hold, as I find myself visiting the same country again each summer.
- Teamteam16 4y ago[flagged]
- digianarchist 4y agoYou might want to reply in English not many people will understand Thai here.
- smatija 4y agoSlovenia already announced that they will replace border checks with checks close to border [1]. Schengen sadly doesn't mean much anymore. [1] - https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/kaj-bo-z-mejnimi-prehodi-po-odpravi-schengenske-meje-med-slovenijo-in-hrvasko/652405 https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/kaj-bo-z-mejnimi-prehodi-po-...
- hamax 4y agoThere is nothing about moving the border checks in the cited article so I'm not sure what this person is talking about.
- smatija 4y ago"Na celotni meji dela 1400 policistov, večina jih bo premeščenih v enote za izravnalne ukrepe, ki bodo selektivne kontrole potnikov, blaga in vozil lahko izvajale v bližini meje in v notranjosti države." Roughly translated: 1400 police officers work at border. Most of them will be moved to other units, which will perform selective checks of passengers, goods and vehicles close to border and in country interior.
- hamax 4y agoSo just normal police work.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- izacus 4y agoYes, spot checks on the road are how Schengen EU handles border control in general across the board. This means that Slovenia will be aligning the Croatian border checks with all others being done across EU. Don't spread misinformation.
- rado 4y agoIn the photo, the person on the left, shouldn’t they be in jail?
- _fizz_buzz_ 4y agosure, in some peoples fascist phantasy world
- JasonFruit 4y agoWhy?
- rado 4y agohttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/imf-chief-christine-lagarde-convicted-criminal-charges https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/imf-chief-christine-lagar...
- fortran77 4y agoChristine Lagarde?
- datafulmanak1 4y ago[dead]
- charcircuit 4y agoWhy not switch to USD?
- Gordonjcp 4y agoBecause no-one uses them.
- lucb1e 4y agoThis was downvoted but I think they meant in Croatia, specifically, which seems like the right answer to me to the question why they're switching to EUR instead (correct me if I'm wrong)
- Gordonjcp 4y agoWell, yeah, of course it got voted down, there's a lot of American Exceptionalism on here. No-one outside the US uses US dollars. People from the US come to the UK, for example, and kick up a fuss because they can't pay for anything "but everyone accepts the dollar!" No, they don't.
- kmeisthax 4y agoBecause they're already EU members and jumping off the Eurozone track would require leaving the EU. Furthermore, the US really isn't interested in territory expansion (unless you're Greenland); we can't even bother to make Puerto Rico a state or American Samoa a territory.
- kmlx 4y agoadopting a currency has nothing to do with territory expansion. a country can easily adopt USD.
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago> a country can easily adopt USD Well yes and no. They have to get their hands on enough USD to replace their own currency, and even more if their economy expands.
- sfusato 4y agoThis is such a complex issue. It worked well for some, bad for others and nobody knows what the future holds, but one thing is for certain: they're trading away part of their sovereignty, make no mistake about that. Some would say, the most critical one. I guess we shall see how the future will play out. Good luck to Croatia.
- 40amxn40 4y ago[dead]
- crazygringo 4y agoNobody is trading away any sovereignty. That's a mistake on your part. Croatia is freely entering into this and is free to leave in the future as well, the same as the UK chose. This is a sovereign treaty like any other. They are not signing away their ability to change their mind in the future. So there is utterly no change in "sovereignty".
- mytailorisrich 4y agoYou do lose key levers when entering the euro ans Schengen. But this is a trade off and hopefully in 2022 countries do this with their eyes open. On key aspect is that Schengen does not harmonise immigration policy and actual external borders' security but removes internal borders. And of course the euro means the country loses control over its monetary policy.
- sfusato 4y agoWell, crazygringo, let me issue & control your money for you then. Nobody said that they are forced. UK didn't adopted the Euro. It wouldn't have been so easy walking off in that case. I'm not so sure about the "free to leave" in the future part, considering the high cost that that would entail. And, in any case, in Croatia's case the advantages could very well outweigh the disadvantages. Curious what do you think of the "West African CFA franc"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_CFA_franc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_CFA_franc
- cm2187 4y ago[flagged]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- maygeimen 4y ago[flagged]
- senko 4y agoMuch of that EUR/USD value loss was actually USD rising a lot compared to many other currencies. Look at the US Dollar index, which compares it to a basket of 6 other globally influental currencies: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DX-Y.NYB?guccounter=1 https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DX-Y.NYB?guccounter=1 This happened primarily due to the quick rise in US interest rates, making USD more attractive to hold. Additionally, Euro slid down due to the energy crisis and a war on the EU's doorstep, not because Euro as a concept doesn't work.
- cm2187 4y agoThe euro zone has a 10% inflation, higher than the US. The reason it does not raise rates is because of the sorry state of EU economies and public finances. That means inflation will remain elevated. I don't know if "work" is the right term. Some people seem to be very happy with money printing and cheap credit. They just don't like the consequences of their own actions. A country that keeps rates at 2% when inflation is 10% has a fool (or a lawyer) as a central banker.
- senko 4y agoThis might be relevant to HN readers that are (or consider) digital nomads. Croatia's been pushing hard on making it easy for them to come and temporarly work from here. Not having to leave/reenter Schengen area when visiting/leaving Croatia and dealing with yet another currency will definitely make their lives a bit easier.
- sixhobbits 4y agoOn the flip side, digital nomads often look for places like Croatia that are similar to Schengen countries and border schengen territory to spend time in to "recharge" their schengen 90-day window (depending on your passport/ visa you may only stay in schengen for 90 days in any given 180 day window)
- hyzyla 4y agoIt was me this summer: Schengen -> 1 month in Montenegro -> 2 months in Croatia -> Schengen
- orangepurple 4y agoSoon it will be Romania and Bulgaria :)
- jacquesm 4y agoThey will have a harder time because they will effectively be a new outer border and especially for Bulgaria there are some challenges in dealing with this. Which is a pity because I personally would love Romania and Bulgaria to become part of Schengen. It makes life so much easier if you travel there frequently.
- foobarian 4y agoHonestly maybe getting Croatian borders dissolved will be enough because in-season traffic is just such a sad waste. I would guess that traffic on the new borders will not be as bad.
- Terretta 4y agoGiven it opens on 1 Jan, does anyone know the story behind this? > However, border checks will end only on March 26 at airports due to technical issues. Inability to e-parse which group a passport belongs to?
- dogma1138 4y agoThere will be no passport control what so ever for inner Schengen flights so it doesn’t matter what passport you are holding so it’s more likely to have to do with the design of the arrivals routes as well as being able to selectively configure arrival gates for Schengen vs international to make sure that only Schengen flights bypass passport control.
- senko 4y agoMy understanding is the gates will be reallocated to avoid the passport checks. This is a bit more involved than just raising the ramps at road crossings.
- Terretta 4y agoMy first thought too, but something about "technical issues" phrasing sounded more e-something. Also physical builds with plenty lead time tend to happen, while e-plans tend to miss dates. So just curious.
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y agoThis is a measure to help the airline industry adapt to the change. March 26 is the date of the switch from the winter schedule to the summer schedule for airlines. There are differing rules and visas for entry into Croatia versus Schengen, and changes on the ground like different gate assignments, and given the timing of the final decision (Dec 9th, midway through the winter schedule) it would have meant that airlines would be speculatively changing the rules on their flights mid year, which is obviously unworkable.
- ploppyploppy 4y ago[flagged]
- college_physics 4y agoAdopting the euro in the current incomplete state of the EU's financial and economic integration is a fairly risky business as other countries found out the hard way Croatians probably bet that the EU will - eventually - deliver on its promises. Its not a crazy assumption. The repeated existential crises might convince Europeans of their joint destiny. The result could be a prosperous, peaceful continent that is a role model for how people can coexist. Welcome. 2023 starts with some good karma.
- WesternWind 4y agoI mean entering into the passport free zone seems like it opens up a lot of opportunities.
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y agoMostly it means avoiding hours-long tailbacks at border crossings for tourists. Not having to deal with surly border guards is also a significant bonus.
- Scoundreller 4y agoheh, driving into Croatia. Hand over passports to the first guy, answer a few questions and we drive off. See guy in the rear-view yelling and waving his arms at us. Turns out that immigration is at the booth, then the guy standing around ahead is the customs guy you're supposed pull ahead and stop for. Oops. Looking forward to using some of the "EU traffic only" backroads crossings into Croatia that were inaccessible to me.
- bootsmann 4y agoKeep in mind that Schengen mostly affects visa-free tourism. The EUs single market freedom of movement (which massively expands opportunities) is a different, unrelated concept.
- PeterisP 4y ago
- Octokiddie 4y ago> Experts say the adoption of the euro will help protect Croatia’s economy at a time when inflation has been soaring globally since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February led to heightened fuel and food prices. Wikipedia notes that the kuna has been pegged to the euro for some time: > The modern kuna was introduced on May 30, 1994, starting a period of transition from the Croatian dinar, introduced in 1991, which ended on December 31, 1994.[10] One kuna was equivalent to 1,000 dinars at a fixed exchange rate. The kuna was pegged to the German mark from the start. With the replacement of the mark by the euro, the kuna's peg effectively switched to the euro. So I doubt there will be much effect on the rate of inflation after the switch.
- jacquesm 4y agoIt will help the locals tremendously because their income will now be in the same currency as most of their debts. This trick has been used by banks all over the eurozone: charge the debt to the locals in euros but they can only earn income in the local currency. So if the local currency slides against the euro - as they invariably do - a larger and larger fraction of the income goes to servicing the debt. Even Poland still suffers from this today.
- Octokiddie 4y agoUnless the peg breaks, the currency doesn't "slide."
- jacquesm 4y agoThe peg usually is in the period just before the switch to the euro, if the period is longer then invariably the peg breaks and the local currency will slide, sometimes quite a bit in a very short period.
- tokai 4y agoThe DKK has been pegged to the euro since '99. The rate has changed by 0.03 over the last 15 years.
- wheelerof4te 4y agoThe country where they still openly celebrate faschism is rewarded with both Eurozone membership and Schengen zone?! Call me not surprised. After all, they were by far the closest friends of Nazis during the WWII.
- timeon 4y agoSlovakia is already in Eurozone and Schengen. Probably not same level as Ustaše and not openly celebrating faschism but there is party full of neonazis in parliament there.
- asdadsdad 4y agoGerman was the Nazi State in the WWII. It's one of the most strongly integrated countries in the EU. What does that have to do with anything? History should be remembered but we're not playing 2022/3 by the rules of the past. Generations come to fix the errors of past ones, otherwise what are we all doing here?
- wheelerof4te 4y agoGermany was saved by the Americans (Marshal's Plan, look it up) so it could become a vassal state, which it still is to this day. With or without the Nazis, it does not matter to Uncle Sam. Just look at Ukraine. "Generations come to fix the errors of past ones, otherwise what are we all doing here?" Well, they aren't doing a really good job in Croatia, are they?
- Beltalowda 4y agoIn what way do they openly celebrate fascism in Croatia?
- wheelerof4te 4y agoEver heard of Thompson, the rock musician? People there love him. Well, he has a knack for singing praises about Ustaše. Those guys were the best friends of Hitler's Nazis during the WWII.
- 4y ago
- wolverine876 4y agoDiscussions of the EU seem to me to omit its most important functions: 1. Prevent war. The EU was designed for this purpose, after centuries of European warfare, by the survivors of WWII. You can't overestimate the damage WWI and WWII did to Europe; the next one would utilize more powerful means of destruction. You can see the problem with European conflict in the news right now. 2. Power: In a world of giants, with power already in the relatively massive US (fortunately an ally to EU countries), and shifting to some degree to China and India, little Croatia (or UK, IMHO) is a tiny minnow. The EU is a major power - the world's largest economy, IIRC. #2 also impacts the US, and freedom and democracy, considerably. China's population relative to the US is about 4x, which is not far off the US relative to the UK. If China develops to even half the per capita productivity of the US, its economy will be ~twice as large. The same goes for India (which IMHO is a greater danger - people have their heads in the sand about Modi's openly aggressive nationalism). Without the EU as an ally, the US may be too small to compete.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- TulliusCicero 4y agoThe EU is the world's third largest economy in nominal terms.
- bitL 4y agoSome people still use stats from 2008. Since then EU is flat, both USA and China growing like crazy. India might catch up with EU in the next 20 years as well.
- Retric 4y agoCalling it flat is a little misleading as Brexit removed a large chunk of EU’s total GDP. The reality is the countries within the current EU experienced real growth which is likely to continue.
- shrimpx 4y agoGood news for Croatia. To Romanians, the ongoing stonewalling is perceived as racism against Gypsies; fear that the under-documented Gypsies of Romania and Bulgaria will flood Western Europe, who already has had enough of the documented Gypsies migrating to their cities so far. And when, after years of poorly-founded claims that the Romanian external border was leaky, Austria brings up their brand new, never heard before reason "poor treatment of Austrian businesses", it's seen as making up random stuff, cynically.
- Tomis02 4y ago> poorly-founded claims that the Romanian external border was leaky I'm not sure what you are talking about. There have been several incidents regarding smuggling across the Romanian border with Ukraine/Moldavia/Black Sea, plus endemic corruption (see the Recorder documentary). I would not trust today's Romania to secure Europe's borders.
- shrimpx 4y agoThe Black Sea migration route is nowhere close to the Mediterranean routes. Like 200 incidents in the Black Sea vs 300k+ in the Mediterranean in 2022, with Italy, Greece and Spain being principal entry points.
- Tomis02 4y agoNot talking about migration specifically. For example, there was an incident in 2019 when the Black Sea border surveillance system went down several times, and at the same time drug shipments were discovered on the sea shore. Migrants routes may be used as a political justification but there have been a bunch of border incidents suggesting Romania does not in fact meet the criteria for Schengen.
- samsonradu 4y agoNot sure what your point is, there is drug smuggling in pretty much any country in the world (except maybe North Korea), this can not be 100% stopped. By now it is common knowledge that western european ports are the drug hubs of the EU[1]. [1] https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/main-cocaine-route-to-europe-has-shifted-to-rotterdam-antwerp-and-hamburg-1.4668697 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/main-cocaine-ro... Disclaimer: I’m romanian.
- pelasaco 4y agoSounds like a good plan for Austria and Germany to buffer refugees coming through the balkan routes. If I remember correctly, the Dublin regulation states that the EU country that will be responsible for the asylum will be the first one reached by the refugees...
- reducesuffering 4y agoThis is about the currency. Croatia joined the EU a decade ago.
- pelasaco 4y agoschengen area too...
- reducesuffering 4y agoOf course, my mistake.
- float4 4y ago> If I remember correctly, the Dublin regulation states that the EU country that will be responsible for the asylum will be the first one reached by the refugees... Not really first one reached, but first one where fingerprints were documented or an asylum claim was filed. This is why in the case of Syria for example, relatively many Syrian refugees are the responsibility of northern European countries like Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.
- pelasaco 4y agoBut that's was because of the division rules created later by Germany, as some countries just started to forward the refugees to Germans borders, right? The default was the country where the refugees land is where the fingerprints were collected
- regularjack 4y agoReading the comments here, and on previous EU-related threads, I can't understand the anti-EU sentiment on HN. Despite its flaws, which it surely has, I can't see the EU as anything but a major success of humanity. A force for cooperation between peoples with vastly different cultures, languages and historical backgrounds, working together towards a better future. For those critical of the EU, please comment here on what you suggest as an alternative. Are the countries supposed to split up and go back to competing with each other in an increasingly harsher global market? How on earth are the small EU countries supposed to compete? Maybe you'll say that the EU is great for small countries and not so much for larger ones, who are sponsoring the EU's success with their citizens tax money. Maybe that is true so, as a citizen of one of those small countries, I am thankful to my fellow EU-tizens who are better-off, for quite literally bringing my country into the world stage, with the increases in quality of life that that entails. I welcome my fellow Croatian citizens to Shenghen and the Euro, I hope to get to meet some of you next time I visit your country, or vice-versa. Long live the EU, one of humanity's greatest achievements.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rayiner 4y agoLook at the U.S. Do we have Iowa holding hands with California in a mutually respectful relationship of cooperation? No, it's just a fight to control the highest level of government that has all the power so that one group can impose its will on everyone else.
- givemeethekeys 4y agoHaha. This is the dynamic of many a happy marriage :).
- ericj5 4y agoyes. it’s literally called the united states of america. at the very least, iowa is much better off as part of the union than it would be on its own
- madballster 4y agoI'd like to counter the notion the EU today is first and foremost an economic union. The EU can not simply be replaced by "a bunch of free trade agreements". Helmut Kohl has always maintained the EU was also founded to finalize borders and forever rule out another war between member states. Today, it is a union of common values and peace first and foremost. No one (in their right mind) is discussing border disputes between France and Germany - although at least three bitter wars were fought in the last 150 years. Or between other countries for that matter. It does not matter much on what side of the border one lives. And if it does to someone, they're free to move. Borders are now settled once and for all. If a nation joins the EU this is an accepted fact - and no, an exception like a nationalist, populist Hungary publically dreaming of access to the Adriatic Sea does not invalidate the line of thought.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tremon 4y agoBorders are now settled once and for all Not necessarily. For example, The Netherlands and Belgium exchanged parts of lands in 2017 to make their border align again with the Meuse river: https://nos.nl/artikel/2112869-nederland-krijgt-belgisch-schiereiland https://nos.nl/artikel/2112869-nederland-krijgt-belgisch-sch... For context: the border originally followed the flow of the river, but a few decades earlier the river was straigthened by dredging to enhance the traffic on the river; the border was left as-is though, leaving both countries with hard-to-reach peninsulas on the "wrong" side of the river.
- jeroenhd 4y agoThe Netherlands and Germany are even in a border "conflict" about the exact way the Ems estuary is divided (DE refers to an old document, NL claims the border goes down the middle of the water). It's not much of a problem in practice because of agreements made decades ago and there is no (or very little) actual land involved, but the borders are still technically disputed by both side.
- chii 4y ago
- jgilias 4y agoCongrats to all the Croats here seeing this as a good thing! Welcome to the club! For me personally the benefits of being part of Euro and Schengen (coming from a small EU country) have been vastly greater than any potential costs.
- denlekke 4y agoI had never really thought about it but am now realizing that the Eurozone (countries using the Euro) and the European Union do not overlap perfectly. There are countries outside the EU that use the euro and countries in the EU which do not use the Euro. Look forward to reading more about about the differences and successes/failures that can be attributed to falling within each of those groups.
- Gare 4y ago> There are countries outside the EU that use the euro Not by design. Eurozone is a subset of EU countries, Montenegro and Kosovo adopted Euro unilaterally.
- tristor 4y agoThis is disappointing as a foreign traveler, since it helps to have stable friendly countries in Europe outside of the Schengen you can go to during times you want to reset your visa timer. For me, one of my favorite destinations for this was Croatia, where honestly you could use euros to pay for things much of the time anyway, although I mostly used a card so it auto-converted to kuna as necessary. With this change, it means to be outside the Schengen you must now either go to less stable/safe countries, or go to the UK which is very expensive. I think you still have the option to go to Bulgaria to stay in the EU without being in Schengen, but otherwise I guess the next best option now in Montenegro, however I'm not sure how stable it is currently since it primarily existed on a tourist economy serving Russians.
- a_paddy 4y agoIreland is another option outside of Schengen but inside the EU.
- thdespou 4y agoYes but good luck finding affordable accommodation in Ireland.
- europeanguy 4y agoTIL Ireland is not in Schengen
- bruce511 4y agoWhile your point is valid, I can't help but smile. I men, first world problems? It does however highlight how things that are of benefit to millions, (or at least, hopefully of benefit to those millions) can have unexpected (?) impact on the few. As a completely alternate anecdote, I'm planning to attend a conference there in 2024,and this change has made it a lot more attractive :)
- rollcat 4y ago> As a completely alternate anecdote, I'm planning to attend a conference there in 2024,and this change has made it a lot more attractive :) I've visited Croatia about a million times in 2012-2022 (that includes pre-EU), and the border controls were almost always a non-story. They'd see the cover of an EU passport (or even the car plates) and would just wave at us to go through. I was stopped once to have my bag searched for drugs, because you know, long hair = obviously must be smuggling drugs. But that happened near other borders too (even inside Schengen; I used to hitch hike a lot).
- shimonabi 4y agoI'm Slovene and now we have the same currency and open borders with Croatia again after 22 years. One of the reasons Yugoslavia fell apart is because the richer north didn't want to pay for the under-developed south. EU has the same problem. The currency without a political union is a time-bomb. I also think the loss of the (educated) population to the north is unsustainable. Croatia has lost 10% of the population since it joined the EU.
- Gare 4y ago> again after 22 years. It has been 32 years, my dear neighbor :)
- drno123 4y agoThe main difference is that in Yugoslavia, most of political power was in poorer state (Serbia), while in EU the political power remains in richer countries (Germany, France).
- seydor 4y agoTo me it looks more and more like the whole southern europe is incentivized to form its own union. Something like a reunited roman empire of the economically frustrated and brain drained South
- petodo 4y agoMeanwhile CZK Czech crown is strongest against euro in 11 years, so much for euro being helpful in any way. And if you look at Eurostat stats Eurozone countries have consistently lower GDP growth and higher unemployment than countries not in Eurozone. I wonder what will fall first, whether EU or Eurozone, there are hardly any benefits for anyone joining now unless it's extremely poor country (EU). As for convenience, everyone pays with card anyway, so it absolutely doesn't matter what the currency is anymore.
- Mikeb85 4y ago> there are hardly any benefits for anyone joining now unless it's extremely poor country (EU) There's a massive benefit and that's the free movement of goods and people. The EU has lifted up both poor countries and made rich ones richer... Ask Poland, CR, SR, the Baltics, etc... what they think of the EU. And France and Germany have also benefitted, both have doubled their GDP since the creation of the EU. > Meanwhile CZK Czech crown is strongest against euro in 11 years, so much for euro being helpful in any way. The CR is in some ways a bit of an outlier - they're very heavy into manufacturing, have been growing very fast plus have had a rather conservative monetary policy.
- petodo 4y ago> The EU has lifted up both poor countries not really truth, all of these poor countries had huge growth prior joining EU and it just continued after joining EU same as it would continue without joining, not thanks to EU, which is wishful thinking of EU proponents, look at Serbia GDP growth for instance, higher than any EU country and even fresh EU members Bulgaria and Romania had huge growth prior joining, same with central Europe, you will have trouble finding poor non EU country without massive growth but yes money wise it's beneficial for poor countries to be net receiver of funds, for well of countries which are around zero contributor/benefactor there are hardly any benefits left
- arcturus17 4y ago> look at Serbia GDP growth for instance, higher than any EU country Absolutely false, Ireland has had higher GDP growth, and closer peers like Estonia or Lithuania have had comparable growth rates to Serbia, which is all the more impressive (or underwhelming for Serbia depending on how you look at it), because these peers have much more developed economies (on a GDP per capita PPP basis) and sustaining high growth when you're already developed is harder. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2021&locations=LT-RS-EE-IE&start=2011 https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2...
- netfortius 4y agoDelaying Romania's acceptance, at the whim of a hardliner right-wing government like Austria's, could only impact the stability of the area - long term - considering the strategic placement of the country, which could always "swing" to elect its own pro-Putin government, if the nationalism rises as result of Schengen denial. Interesting aspects to monitor in the year(s) to come...