On 1 July, Croatia became the 28th country to join the EU, an achievement that required radical transformations. Today, the country looks to the future with greater optimism, prepared for the upcoming challenges. The economic crisis primarily but also the difficult task of convincing its neighbours to join the EU, a symbol of stability and peace.
The Croatian border crossing at Pasjak is strangely empty and silent. The police officer hands me back my passport and says goodbye. I tell him: “Just a few more days and you’ll be in the European Union!” He hesitates, raises his right hand in a thumbs-up gesture, then his left hand with fingers crossed. It’s 25 June 2013, exactly twenty-two years on from Croatia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. But back then, in 1991, a war broke out the very next day that lasted until 1995. Since then the country has undergone a long transition period in order to attain the goal it reached on 1 July: to become the 28th Member State of the European Union. “Dobro došli u Europsku Uniju!” was the EU welcome delivered in Croatian by Josè Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, at the celebrations in Zagreb on 30 June. “He’s elated, but for us it has been an eight-degree climb”, says Marko, a Croatian journalist and rock climber who, like me, is participating in the magnificent festivities in Ban Jelačić Square. Croatia’s long road to EU accession began in earnest after 2005, when the country showed its readiness to collaborate more fully with the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Zagreb had to implement various reforms in order to reach the political and judicial standards to which all EU Member States are bound; conditions known as accession criteria. Of the 35 chapters of the negotiation acquis, Croatia had to work hardest on two areas: cracking down on corruption and organised crime and judicial reform. “The judiciary has brought the biggest corruption cases to light. So I’m not expecting big changes after July 1st”, says Tomislav Domes, an activist with the Zagreb-based coalition Pravo na Grad (Right to the City). Since 2010, Croatia has been plagued by a series of corruption scandals involving the highest echelons of politics. Topping the pyramid was Ivo Sanader, ex-prime minister and former head of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the party founded by Franjo Tudjman, the first president of an independent Croatia. Sanader was arrested and later convicted for corruption and war profiteering. Crushed by the scandals, the HDZ lost the 2011 elections (after having intermittently governed the country for 16 years), defeated by the coalition led by the Social Democratic Party of current Prime Minister Zoran Milanović. “The push for EU accession was important in developing new relations among citizens and between diverse political factions”, explains Milorad Pupovac, a member of the Croatian Parliament and president of the country’s Serb National Council. According to Pupovac, major steps have been taken on rights for minorities and the return of Serbian refugees. However, the work is far from over: “For example, restitution of houses inhabited by Serbs before the war has been very slow. The villages they’ve returned to have only been partially rebuilt and unemployment fluctuates between 50% and 80%”.“Why am I sceptical?”, asks Zora, who works in a bakery in the centre of Zagreb, “Have you seen how Slovenia’s faring these days?” She’s afraid Croatia is going to be dragged under by the European economic crisis. This kind of Euro-scepticism was also evident in the voter turnout for Croatia’s 2012 referendum on EU accession: the majority voted yes, yet only 43% of those entitled actually cast their votes, despite the fact that the political elite – from the liberals to the conservatives – were in favour of accession. Worse still, last April there was only a 20.8% turnout for the first ever elections of Croatia’s 12 European Parliament members. A country with a population of only 4,284,889, Croatia is dependent on the international economy and is feeling the repercussions of the global financial and economic crisis. A drop in exports and incoming capital has led to recession. The figures for 2012 tell it all: Croatia’s gross foreign debt was nearly €50 billion, consumer spending fell by 3%, direct investment by 4.6% and the government slashed public spending and increased VAT to 25%. Official estimates for April 2013 put unemployment at 20.9%, with peaks of up to 40% among young people between the ages of 19 and 29. Croatian President Ivo Josipović doesn’t deny the country’s problems, but he is nevertheless hopeful for the future: “The dowry we have been presented with on entering [the EU] is market enlargement, cultural wealth, environmental beauty and, what is perhaps of particular importance at this moment, a certain optimism. Now we must keep going and find a way to keep the economic crisis in check, something we intend to achieve with the he p of our European partners”. Of course, this will also depend on this country’s ability to get the most out of the EU structural and cohesion funds it will receive, amounting to €13-14 billion between 2014 and 2020. One of the benefits ordinary citizens have immediately learned to appreciate is freedom of movement. “I’m happy to enter the European Union! Now I can study abroad without having to produce a mountain of documents”, says Mirjana, a waitress working tables in a Zagreb bar. Being part of the European ‘family’ also helps to distance them from their troubled past. “Finally, we won’t just be known for the war, but for having become an EU country”, she adds. The importance of being part of a common project also resonates in the words of President Josipović: “We in Croatia value greatly the EU’s role as a peacemaker”. With a reassuring smile, he concludes: “That is also why, in addition, we will encourage and help our neighbours to join the EU as soon as possible. Because the EU is a symbol of stability and peace for all of us,”.
On 1 July, Croatia became the 28th country to join the EU, an achievement that required radical transformations. Today, the country looks to the future with greater optimism, prepared for the upcoming challenges. The economic crisis primarily but also the difficult task of convincing its neighbours to join the EU, a symbol of stability and peace.
