What has EU membership brought to Croatia?
On this day three years ago, Croatia became a full member of the European Union. The request for full membership was submitted in 2003, and the official candidate status for membership in the EU was received a year later. The accession talks, which were to begin in March 2005, were delayed due to insufficient cooperation with the Hague tribunal for war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Negotiations were officially opened on 3 October 2005, after the Hague chief prosecutor confirmed the full cooperation. The negotiations were concluded in 2011, and on 1 July 2013 Croatia finally became the EU member, report dnevnik.hr, al-Jazeera and Dalmacija News on July 1, 2016.
According to the analysis of the three-year membership in the EU and a survey conducted by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce among employers, Croatia has not benefitted from initial effect of EU accession. It is lagging behind in the rates of utilization of EU funds. In three years, Croatia paid in the budget of the European Commission 1.3 billion euros and withdrew 1.8 billion euro, with a surplus of only 500 million euros.
Many countries of the European Union have opened their labour markets to Croatian citizens and abolished work permits. Last year, over 50,000 Croatian citizens found work in EU countries. Also, several thousand students used the possibility to study in one of the countries of the European Union through the Erasmus program.
So far, Croatia has failed to meet its two additional major European objectives. One is the introduction of the euro as a currency and the other is entering the Schengen Area. The introduction of the euro will take longer because it requires the fulfilment of the criteria of the European Commission, including a minimum of two years of fiscal and macroeconomic stability in the country which is something that Croatia has yet to reach.
However, there are some positive effect on Croatian economy as well, for example in tourism. In comparison with 2012, the last full year in which Croatia was not a member, last year Croatia had an increase in the number of tourists and tourist revenue. The number of tourists increased by 22 percent, of overnight stays by 15 percent and of revenues by 16 percent. The greatest increase was recorded with visitors coming from Great Britain, Hungary and Poland. Of course, it is not clear how much of this increase is due to the EU membership.
Another important economic sector is agriculture. If we compare 2012 and 2015, imports of agricultural products grew by 27 percent and currently amount to more than 2.5 billion dollars. Exports also grew during the same period by 24 percent. However, both exports and imports were somewhat more oriented towards other states.
According to the survey of companies conducted by the Croatian Chamber of Economy, 67 percent of companies said they did not start exporting to the EU markets, while 84 percent of companies stated they did not find any new partners for cooperation.
So, the picture is mixed. For example, Croatia currently stands at only 59 percent of the EU average by development, with only Bulgaria and Romania being worse. And according to unemployment figures, Croatia is the second worst member.
