Croatia adopts the euro from this Sunday and joins the Schengen area

MADRID, 31 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Croatia will become this Sunday the twentieth country in the European Union to adopt the euro as its official currency and will also join the Schengen area that facilitates free movement, in a double milestone achieved after years of reforms and progress with which the country has managed to meet the necessary requirements to join both blocks.

In the case of the euro, the European currency will coexist with the local kuna for two weeks, although until the end of 2023 it will be mandatory for the prices of goods and services to also be indicated in kunas. Currency exchange will also be free until December 31, with an exchange rate of 7.53450 kunas for each euro.

With this enlargement, the eurozone now has 347 million inhabitants. The European Commission has stressed that the new currency is a "tangible symbol" of the "opportunities" offered by the EU - to which Croatia joined in 2013 - while facilitating travel and trade.

On the other hand, the Schengen zone will be extended from this Sunday to 420 million people who will be able to travel freely and without border controls. This is the eighth expansion of this alliance established in 1985, although it is the first in eleven years.

Maritime and land controls will be lifted with immediate effect, although internal surveillance at airports will not, since this milestone will not arrive until March 26, 2023 to make it coincide with the times set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). . Croatia will be subjected to an examination within a year to verify that it effectively complies with all the protocols established by Schengen.