European Union finance ministers formally approved on Tuesday that Croatia will become the 20th member of the common euro currency in early 2023.
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Croatia’s accession confirms that the euro remains an “attractive, resilient and successful global currency” and a symbol of strength and unity.
“This is particularly important at such a challenging time, when Russia’s aggression against Ukraine continues to cause shock across the world,” Dombrovskis said at a ceremony to mark Croatia’s accession, the euro zone’s first expansion since 2015. .
The European Council, a grouping of 27 EU governments, adopted three legal acts necessary to allow Croatia — an EU member state since 2013 — to introduce the euro on 1 January.
One such act set the conversion rate for entering a euro to 7.53450 Croatian kunas, with Croatia now having a few months to prepare the practicalities for the currency exchange.
Croatia, in southeastern Europe, has been an independent country since 1991, when it left what was then Yugoslavia, which, along with Bosnia’s secession a year later, sparked years of devastating war with Serbia.
Neighboring Slovenia, also a former Yugoslav republic and now a member of the EU, adopted the euro in 2007. Nineteen countries are currently in the euro zone.
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