"Access to Eurozone and Schengen Croatia is coming out of the year 2022 as a fully integrated member of the European Union. From the beginning of next year, the country will belong to both the Eurozone and the Schengen area without internal border controls. Thus, Croatia joined the club of what is now 15 countries (Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain) which are members of the most integrated confederations on the continent - the EU, the Eurozone, the Schengen area and NATO. Croatia is the one of those members of these clubs that used to have a communist one-party system 30 years ago, just like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovenia. [...] Bulgaria is also further preparing for the membership of the Eurozone in order to introduce the euro by January 2024. Russian war in Ukraine and energy prices The Russian war and its repercussions are likely to continue driving the EU's agenda in 2023."
