With the new year, Croatia officially adopted the euro and entered the Schengen free movement area, two important steps for the Balkan country after joining the EU almost ten years ago.
At midnight Croatia said goodbye to its currency, the kuna, and became the 20th member of the eurozone.
It also became the 27th nation in the Schengen Zone, which allows passport-free travel between member states.
"Croatia worked hard to become the 20th member of the euro area, and it succeeded. It is proof that the euro is an attractive currency that brings stability to its members," ECB President Christine Lagarde commented, giving welcome Croatia "to the euro family and to the table of the board of governors
of the ECB in Frankfurt".
The Croatian central bank, the Hrvatska narodna banka, joins the Eurosystem and becomes a full-fledged member of the single supervisory mechanism for banks (SSM), with which it has closely cooperated since October 2020.
The ECB is now responsible for the direct supervision of five Croatian "major institutions" and 16 "less relevant ones".
"Today Croatia enters the Schengen area and the Eurozone. An important result for the European project and for the Croatian people, to whom I wish all the best. I hope that other countries will soon achieve the same goal, for the benefit of all EU", said the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on twitter.
