Croatia adopted the euro as its national currency on 1 January 2023 and officially joined the Schengen Area, the EU’s passport-free travel space.

The European Union has given Croatia the green light to use the euro. In July 2022, the European Council announced that it adopted the final three legal acts required to enable Croatia to introduce the euro on 1 January 2023.

One of the three legal acts sets the conversion rate between the euro and the Croatian kuna at 7.53450 Kuna per 1 euro.

Croatia has now become a member of the euro area, and it is the latest nation to join the eurozone since Lithuania in 2015. The country will continue to use its currency until January 2024. However, visitors from the eurozone no longer need to exchange money when travelling to Croatia.

Croatia seeks security and protection

By adopting the euro, Croatia hopes to gain more financial security and improve the living standards of its citizens.

“Euro area membership guarantees the state, the business sector, and citizens greater security and better protection from crises and economic shocks”, Croatia Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said. “We are about to join the circle of the European countries which are the most developed and have the strongest mechanisms of solidarity and support in times of economic crises”.

The PM noted that all countries that had joined the euro area had seen an increase in citizens’ standard of living, mentioning in that context Slovenia, which joined the euro area in 2007. “This is the last stage of introducing the euro and despite all the challenges and crises over the past years, we are about to accomplish one of our two strategic goals of deeper integration with the European Union – euro area accession and accession to the Schengen area,” Plenković said.

To limit any phenomenon of profiteering, shops in Croatia have already started last September to list the cost of goods in both the local currency (Kuna) and euros.

The 20th EU nation to adopt the euro

“I would like to congratulate my counterpart, Zdravko Marić, and the whole of Croatia for becoming the 20th country to join the euro area. Adopting the euro is not a race, but a responsible political decision. Croatia has completed all the required economic criteria and they will pay in euros as of 1 January 2023” said Zbyněk Stanjura, Minister of Finance of Czechia.

The Financial Times describes Croatia’s entry into the euro currency as a milestone for the nation of 4 million people, which has long struggled to move closer to the rest of the European Union. According to the analysis of the Financial Times, the entry of former Yugoslavian Croatia into the Eurozone is also a major boost for European unity.

The president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, described the addition of Croatia as a “vote of confidence for the eurozone” while underlining that Croatia is also going to benefit from the “euro shield”.

At the same time, it is estimated that by adopting the euro, Croatia will be able to attract more tourists and investors from abroad.

While Croatia has become the 20th EU nation to adopt the euro, there are still several members that are using their currency.

In total, seven EU countries don’t use the euro: Denmark, Bulgaria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Hungary.