While some remain passive to the notion, Croatia and the Eurozone is a particularly sensitive topic among many. After having seen what happened to Greece several years ago, many are naturally suspicious of the introduction of the common currency which once presented as a good idea that had gone very wrong.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of December, 2018, most Croats appear to be against the country’s eventual accession to the Eurozone, most are concerned with immigration and terrorism at the European level, as well as with national unemployment and the general economic situation. The number of Croats who have a positive image of the European Union also appears to be increasing, with the number of those with a negative image gradually decreasing, according to the results of this autumn’s Eurobarometer.
The autumn Eurobarometer survey was conducted from the 8th to the 22nd of November in all of the European Union’s 28 member states, five candidate countries, as well as in the Turkish community in Cyprus.
Croatia and the Eurozone remains to be a topic that causes controversy, and the survey shows that 56 percent of respondents from the Republic of Croatia are against the introduction of the formerly problematic single European currency, 40 percent of the respondents are for the euro’s introduction as the country’s main currency, while just 4 percent said they didn’t know how they felt.
It seems Croatia and the Eurozone is still being met with a cold front. Compared to 2018’s spring Eurobarometer, the percentage of euro support in Croatia has dropped by 6 percentage points. The largest euro support is in neighbouring Slovenia, at 86 percent, then in Luxembourg and Estonia with 85 percent, followed by the Republic of Ireland and Belgium with 84 percent. The lowest support was found in the Czech Republic with 21 percent, the United Kingdom with 28 percent, followed then by Sweden with 29 percent, and Denmark with s slightly higher 30 percent.
As far as what people deem to be the most important issue facing the country, most Croats stated unemployment (43 percent), then the economic situation (28 percent), and rising prices and living costs (27 percent). At the European level, concerns about unemployment was the most important issue for 23 per cent of respondents, followed by rising prices and immigration.
Croats are among the most pessimistic when it comes to the state of the national economy, 83 percent think it is completely bad, and only 16 percent think it is quite good.
These are still somewhat better results than what those of the spring Eurobarometer brought earlier this year. The spring Eurobarometer was carried out back in April this year, and only 11 percent rated the national economy to be in a very good state, and 89 percent felt it was in the absolute worst situation it could be in.
More pessimistic than the Croats are the Greeks, just 6 percent of them believe that the state of the Greek national economy is quite good, and 94 percent feel it is totally negative. Somewhat less pessimistic than the Greeks and the Croats are the Spaniards, Bulgarians, Italians, Romanians, and finally the French.
In the second part of the chart, Malta is ranked first, where 95 percent of respondents state that they feel the national economy is in good shape, followed by 91 percent in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, followed by Denmark, Germany, and Sweden with 88 percent.
Asked which of the most important issues the European Union is currently facing, most Croats, 48 percent of them, stated that it remains to be immigration, followed by terrorism (32 percent), followed by public finances in EU member states (19 percent).
On average, over all of the European Union’s 28 member states, the respondents claim some of their biggest concerns are immigration (40 percent) and terrorism (20 percent).
On the other hand, most Croats (65 percent) believe that the economic situation in the EU as a whole is quite good, 26 percent of them think it is terrible, and nine percent didn’t provide a clear answer.
The most positive answers to this question were recorded in Lithuania (73 percent), Poland and Austria with a joint 70 percent, Ireland with 67 percent. The least positive responses were recorded in France (26 percent), Spain (36 percent), and then Italy and the United Kingdom (37 percent).
Croats are among those who mostly believe that the economic crisis has already reached its peak in terms of labour market impact and a recovery (58 percent), while 38 percent believe that it has not yet peaked and that the worst is yet to come.
The most optimistic about this matter are the Irish (76 percent), the Danes and the Dutch (70 percent), and then the Hungarians with 69 percent.
On the other hand, most French citizens (67 percent) maintain the belief that the crisis has not yet passed and that the worst is still on its way. The pessimism of the French is followed by that of the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the British and the Swedes.
Just 39 percent of Croats have a completely positive image of the European Union, which, despite having plenty of room for improvement, is still five percentage points more than it was back during the spring of this year, a neutral image is held by a higher 42 percent, which is five percentage points less than in spring, and 18 percent of Croats hold a totally negative belief about the EU.
For the first time, most Europeans think that their voice counts in the European Union (49 percent), four percentage points more than back in spring.
On the other hand, a significant 47 percent disagree with this statement, which is still far less than was recorded back during 2013’s spring Eurobarometer.
The EU’s enlargement policy is apparently still being met with suspicion and is still widely unpopular across the entire territory of the European Union.
When it comes to the precarious subject of EU enlargement, 43 percent of the respondents believed it was a positive thing, 45 percent were very much against it, while 12 percent said they weren’t sure how they felt about it.
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