ZAGREB, July 17, 2019 – The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for president, Zoran Milanović, on Tuesday said that he is not opposed to introducing the euro currency in Croatia, but the condition for that is continual talks which will lead to a decision on the fate of the country.
“Croatia in the euro area in five years’ time, why not?” Milanović said in a video posted on his Facebook profile and underscored that that does not mean cheaper money because lower interest rates exist only in functioning countries.
He said that he was not for introducing the euro at a referendum and at meetings with the International Monetary Fund, which he called “the world’s financial policeman”, but “as a community of people who think and make decisions on their fate in the next ten, twenty, thirty years.”
He assessed that introducing the euro means that Croatia will not have a national currency. “That means a currency on whose trends decisions are made by the people we don’t elect. And I reiterate, why not? But not in this way,” he said.
“Introducing the euro in Croatia does not mean cheaper money! We see that in a series of examples in Europe in which countries which are not in the euro area have the lowest interest rates. Interest rates do not depend on whether you are in the euro area but to what extent you are a functioning state, whether endemic thievery exists or order and the rule of law. That is why I advocate a modern Croatia, talks, not dictate,” said Milanović.
More news about the presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.
