Eurobarometer: Croats Do Not Like the Euro, Blame It for Rising Prices

Almost a year after entering the euro area, only 51 percent of Croatian citizens believe that the common currency is good for the country, according to Eurobarometer results published on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted from October 3 to 9 in 20 eurozone countries. It was conducted by phone and included 18,667 individuals aged 15 and older.

When asked whether the euro is a good or bad thing for their country, the least positive responses were in Croatia, with 51 percent considering it good, 36 percent bad, and 10 percent undecided.

The highest support is in Finland, where 85 percent of respondents rate it as a good thing, followed by Estonia and Slovakia at 84 percent, and Ireland at 81 percent.

On average in the euro area, 69 percent of respondents believe that the euro is good for their country. The results are somewhat different in responses to the question of whether the euro is good for the EU.

On average in 20 euro area countries, 79 percent believe that the euro is good for the EU.

The highest positive responses are in Slovakia (90 percent) and Finland (88 percent), while the lowest are in Latvia (70 percent) and Cyprus (72 percent).

In Croatia, 76 percent of respondents believe that the euro is good for the EU.

Most Croats believe that the replacement of the kuna with the euro has affected price increases.

Seventy-two percent of respondents in Croatia believe that the introduction of the euro has affected the rise in all prices, 23 percent think it has affected price increases in some categories of goods and services, and 3 percent believe that prices have remained mostly the same.

Thirty percent of respondents in the eurozone feel that the introduction of the euro makes them feel more European. The least number of such individuals is in Croatia – 15 percent, in Spain 20 percent, and the highest in Ireland (55 percent), Malta 46 percent, and Portugal and Slovakia 40 percent.

The majority in the euro area, 70 percent, consider the €723 billion recovery plan from the coronavirus pandemic to be good.

The highest positive responses were in Italy – 83 percent, Spain 80 percent, and Greece 79 percent, while the lowest were in Latvia, 47 percent, and Germany 59 percent.

In Croatia, 66 percent of respondents rate this plan as good.