> With all due respect to Croatia and the lovely people that live there, they cannot compete globally with Germany in any interesting export market. This fails

> With all due respect to Croatia and the lovely people that live there, they cannot compete globally with Germany in any interesting export market. This fails Econ 101. Gains from trade occur even if one country is absolutely worse at making and selling everything than another. You may want to revisit the concept of comparative advantage. Their currency is also currently pegged to the euro, so this is absolutely no change from a macroeconomic perspective. It just reduces the barriers to trade, including tourism.