President Milanović: Joining Eurozone Will be Good for Croatia Due to Structure of its Economy
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Croatian National Bank.
“In these thirty years, the Croatian National Bank is one of the two institutions in Croatia and Croatian society that has carried out its mission and its work well and that enjoys respect, perhaps not deep affection. And the other institution is the Croatian Army,” President Milanović said in his address at the ceremony. He added that everyone else had their ups and downs, “from the judiciary, the state attorney’s office, all the Croatian governments, including mine – no one had a good score. Some will rightly say that the mission of the National Bank is much narrower – price control, the exchange rate in our case, and the stability of the financial system,” said the President, underscoring that one is not independent from the other and that this was carried out in an exemplary way.
Commenting on Croatia’s accession to the Eurozone, President Milanović said that the Croatian National Bank will never be the same. “With a certain amount of sadness, I look at the fact that we are losing our currency, our influence, the people we know, who we have promoted, appointed and allowed to work well independently. Now, this is becoming a part of one much greater development – a political one. The decision to join the Eurozone is a political decision backed by several generations and Croatian governments. And whoever took part in it should not object but engage in the conversation,” President Milanović said at the ceremony.
He added that by joining the Eurozone, we are entering a system that is huge, much bigger than we are. “My opinion is that Croatia’s entry into the Eurozone will be good for the Croatian economy due to the structure of our economy, due to the high share of services in our economy, especially tourism,” said President Milanović, adding that not everyone in Croatia or elsewhere in Europe agrees on this. “My assessment and opinion is that this is a good thing for Croatia. I do not know what awaits us tomorrow and whether this will result in higher salaries and greater competitiveness. Experiences have shown both. There are no perfectly clear rules,” said the President of the Republic.
Commenting further on the matter, President Milanović said there are positive experiences in Europe, such as the example of Lithuania, which is a small economy, but that there is also the example of Italy, which has been stagnating for 20 years and has not adapted to the euro. “We need to take this seriously, stay focused and be selfish about our interests. And not follow the philosophy of the modern age. Let us be optimistic and sceptical at the same time, without allowing this scepticism to block decision-making,” the President told everyone present.
“I commend the National Bank on the mission it performed. I see only one oversight in the last thirty years and that is the Swiss currency (issue), when the Bank, at that time, did not react in the right way, at the right moment and rigorously enough. But it is easy to be smart in retrospect,” concluded President Milanović.
Apart from President Milanović, speaking at the anniversary ceremony in the Croatian National Bank were former Governor Marko Škreb, Governor Boris Vujčić, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Željko Reiner. Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy Velibor Mačkić was alongside President Milanović.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan