Is EU Accession a Remedy for Croatian Crisis?

The nuptial knot is now tied between the EU and Croatia after a decade long betrothal which was described as “painful discussions” by the President Ivo Jospovic. Entry to the EU in the strangest times has generated so much of assumptions among the economists in the world. Croatia will be the 28^th member of the EU after Bulgaria and Romania becoming members in 2007.

EU commission was very careful in accepting Croatia as a member and they werCroatia was  served a warning to control the corruption which is widespread in the country which makes Croatia the 2^nd place in most corrupted countries in the Europe behind Slovenia. The corruption even led it’s former President Mr Ivo Sanader, who was the mastermind behind the EU accession procedures, to jail on a corruption charges of €5 million as a bribe from various institutions including a bank and a pharma company!

Croatia has an unemployment rate of 20% along with the threat of corruption and human trafficking. Became an independent country in 1991, Croatia is in severe economic crisis in the last 5 consecutive years. Many economists foresee a chance of Croatia opting for a bailout immediately after its EU entry as a solution for its crisis. But this was denied by Mr Croatia’s Foreign minister Mr Vesna Pusic. The European parliament even made an announcement through its President Mr Martin Schulz that EU membership will not be the solution for Croatian Crisis.

Advocates of this accession find peace in the forecast that the double digit unemployment rate can come down as the Croatians finding jobs in prosperous EU countries and with the help of foreign investments Croatia’s economy will definitely recover. They keep faith in the EU leadership based in Brussels that they will keep check on the corruption and administration in the country.

In the late 19^th century Bismarck predicted issues among the Balkan countries will cause the next European war. Croatia has vital issues like rising debt, more risk of defaults, which can be a burden on EU taxpayers. Croatia, which has lost a huge number of its population in the wars including the war Against Yugoslavia is surely looking at this accession to be a long-term solution for their all kind of problems.