ZAGREB, May 10, 2018 – Živi Zid president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Thursday criticised the government’s decision to adopt a euro introduction strategy, saying his opposition party was against it and that it advocated that the kuna remain Croatia’s currency.
He said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s claims that Croatia was ready to begin introducing the euro were part of his preparation to become president of the European Commission. “The kuna is a symbol not just of our sovereignty and state, introducing the euro would have numerous harmful economic consequences,” Sinčić told reporters.
He said Plenković was not embarking on the introduction of the euro to help Croatia’s economy and citizens but for his own personal interests. “He wants to score points in Brussels so that one day, when he goes back to Brussels, he can say, ‘This is a list of things I have done so that we can integrate even more. Now let me be president of the European Commission’.”
Živi Zid member Dominik Vuletić said “the euro area makes the industrially most developed countries continue to develop and the least developed to remain on the outskirts such as Portugal, Spain, Croatia or Greece.” He said some EU member states not only did not have a legal obligation to introduce the euro, such as the UK or Denmark, but some, like Sweden, were avoiding to introduce the euro through a smart monetary policy.”
