One the “most pressing issues” in Croatia seems to be resolved
The never-ending saga about the new design of licence plates on Croatian cars seems to finally be nearing its end. Interior Minister Vlaho Orepić has opted for, as he describes it, the simplest and cheapest solution, reports dnevnik.hr on March 8, 2016.
According to announcements, new licence places should have been introduced ages ago. The previous interior minister announced a public competition for the new design. The supposedly best solutions were already selected, but then everything stopped. Money was spent, winning and losing designers protested, and the delay in the selection process caused a shortage of licence plates. By the end of his term in office, former Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić did not sign the rule which would bring new licence plates into use.
However, now the new minister has a solution. “We will basically keep the old licence plates. We will just put the flag of the European Union on the empty part, and that is it. At this point, it would not make sense to force the state and the people to spend their money”, said Minister Orepić.
The new plates will have the EU flag on a blue background, with the inscription HR. Owners of old licence plates will not have to buy the new ones. In order to go abroad, they will have to place a separate country label on their cars.
“I think this is one of the better solutions because the existing plates already have a space where you can add the flag of the European Union and the two-letter designation for Croatia in the EU. I think this would be the simplest, fastest and cheapest solution”, said Goran Pejić from the Croatian Centre for Vehicles.
Due to this simple solution, many drivers have already thought of just adding the EU sticker to the empty spot on the old licence plates. However, you should definitely not do that, because any change to the licence plate is considered a forgery of an official document, which means you could be penalised by Croatia’s strict authorities.
Due to budgetary savings, plans were dropped which provided for the possibility that more towns would have their own separate licence plates. Also, despite earlier announcements, you will not be able to live in one town and use the code of another. Considering the time needed to purchase the material and the testing period, it is expected that the new licence plates will be seen on Croatian streets starting in early June.
