On July 1 next year, Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union, and under the terms of the Treaty of Maastricht this new, proud sovereign state – not yet two decades old – must accept the entire corpus of EU law; and she must place her neck in the noose of the single currency. Unlike Britain or Denmark, the Croats have no opt-out. They are now legally obliged to give up the kuna for the euro, and I say, don’t do it, folks. It is not only a mistake. To submit to the euro would be a stunning refusal to learn the grim lessons of recent Balkan history
Blimey, I can hardly believe I just quoted Mr. Toad. But whilst I share BJ’s sentiments on this, knowing Croatia reasonably well, I suspect there was less opposition to this than one might have expected due to the indigenous Croatian political class being such a dismal collection of pond scum and turds who floated to the top. I think the average Croatian could not see how shifting power away from these wankers could possibly make things worse. And of course they are entirely wrong on that score, as they will eventually discover.
Lucky Croatia. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch, etc. – either way.
I think the point about the single currency is covered in a hilarious image in a post here:
Self-igniting euro collapse?(Link)
Though I think it maybe should have read “Spontaneous Combustion of the Euro Collapse”.
I think the clown’s shoes and his red nose are priceless – and probably very apt.
Well put, Boris. Although it’s now the better part of a decade since I was last in Croatia, “proud” could be substituted for the less politically-correct “hubristic”, from what I remember.
He’s also assuming that the European Union will still have a single currency by July 1st next year; the way things are going, this might not be the case. What Croatia would then be required to do, is anybody’s guess.
Also, what economic conditions have they been required to meet in order to have entry approved, I wonder?
A good post.
People tend to look at the corrupt and useless political class and think “well let us try somethng different”.
They forget two things.
Firstly that once they let the E.U. in – they can not get it out again (apart from Greenland – they managed to secede fro the E.U.).
And if the political class are such scum – why follow their advice?
After all the same politicians and so on that the people (rightly) despise said the people should vote YES to the E.U.
That should (but sadly did not) have given people a warning.
We obviously visited a different Croatia. I always found a laudable cynicism the dominant vibe there.
Is it just me or have you noticed that politicians from the former Soviet bloc who are openly anti-EU have a strange tendency to either a) suddenly and inexplicably lose their jobs or b) turn up dead?
Maybe I’m imagining things…..
Still, makes you wonder if leaving the EU is actually “allowed”.
Don’t they already have a bad experience in that sort of organization?
JV, Yugoslavia was not Soviet bloc.
You’re correct Perry – my apologies for not being clearer. I wasn’t thinking of any Croatians in particular though.
More I was opining that many of the countries who once followed communism (as Yugoslavia did, albeit not Soviet communism) seem to have an awful hard time holding onto their “democratically elected” politicians.
They keep getting ousted, or killed. Especially when they say controversial things.
I have been living in Croatia now for three years having previously lived in London all my life. I live in inland Croatia amongst relatively poor farming communities. I have been told by my neighbours that the government gave as much money as was required by anyone that wanted to promote the EU in the run up to the referendum and not one kuna to anyone against. They also made it known to pensioners that they would all lose their pensions were Croatia not to join the EU. Lies of course but most Croatians I know or come into contact with really have given up on politicians completly and just want to be left alone.
There seems to be some consternation among motoring, motorcycling and scootering blogs about the EU wanting to bring in sweeping legislation against the modifying of vehicles. I’m not sure whether some are being paranoid but they seem to be talking about an outright ban on any vehicle being in anyway different from how it was when it left the factory and a ban on repairing vehicles with anything other that original factory parts.
Although it seems unlikely that anything as extreme as this is actually on the table, my first question is why? What huge problem is being caused by people modifying their vehicles that needs to be addressed?
Unlikely? Why? The genuine parts part has to be the result of lobbying by big auto companies – at least the ones based in Europe. Sounds like the usual monopolization of a market under the disguise (guessing here) of protecting consumer safety against unauthorized parts.
With regard to older vehicles it would be completely impractical. Original parts are often no longer available. Many are modified to use unleaded petrol, leaded petrol is no longer sold on forecourts. Many classic bikes and scooters are fitted with modern disc brakes, standard brakes from half a century ago would be lethal on modern roads.
Still, if we don’t like it we can always vote the buggers out, eh?
They will allow all kinds of exemptions for older vehicles, while making life so difficult for their owners so as to (presumably) “encourage” them to buy new ones – or, better yet, switch to public transport. Needless to say, none of this has to actually make sense – does it ever?
Back in the 90s all the big automakers seemingly simultaneously switched from steel mufflers to stainless, a move that ostensibly didn’t make any economic sense from their point of view (stainless being much more expensive, and having a lifespan much longer than many other crucial parts of a car) – but it did kill the entire small muffler-makers sector almost overnight. I now wonder what exactly happened there.
To Kavin and co.- welcome! Just repeat this mantra a few times ‘BIG governments are bad, small governments are good’, and you’ll fit in! Feel free to complain about the area where you live, since this will add local colour. You already have a distinctive name, so no worries there! (My first name is Nick, but a few others are also called Nick, so I’ve slightly changed my first name, to be a rugged individual.)
Big governments are bad; small governments are less bad. Does that count, Nuke?
“BIG governments are bad- self-government is good!” all together now, repeat!
Came up with this line on another subject, but i think it will go well here-
“We want self-government, NOT super-governments!”
Can I just express my admiration for the mayor’s impressive ability to fit in a Mediterranean holiday between the Olympics and the Paralympics. Some points for style there.