CCTV, Reuters. Croatia starts the new year with a new currency as it becomes the 20th member of the eurozone.
The Balkan nation of around four million people also officially entered Europe's visa-free Schengen zone on Sunday nearly a decade since joining the European Union (EU).
While entering the Schengen area is widely seen as a positive in Croatia, where tourism from neighbouring European countries is a key pillar of the economy, adopting the euro has led to fierce debate, particularly in the face of a global economic downturn.
Prices in Croatian shops and supermarkets have been shown in both kunas and euros for the last six months as the country prepared to switch fully to the euro.
Some business owners see this as an opportunity to streamline their operations and reach out to new markets.
"In the last 20 years, all trade has been communicated and agreed upon in euros. In fact, nobody at that time talked about loans or purchasing an apartment in local currency but only in euros. So, the market is ready for that, and it will just make doing business easier," said Dario Lesic, owner of AVITEH, a video equipment company in the Croatian capital Zagreb.
Lesic said he hopes the move to the euro will lead to less paperwork and red tape.
Other experts say that fully adopting the euro will end confusion around currency transactions and make things simpler for Croatian traders and consumers.
"It will be a big deal. This monetary fog that nobody understands will disappear, like what is foreign currency, what is national currency with the foreign currency clause. All of that will disappear. The accounts will become simpler and cleaner, and everything will be in euros: the government's, the private's, the bank balance... All of those," said Ratko Boskovic, an economic journalist.
But not everybody believes ditching the national currency is the best move, with many worried that prices will go up as retailers round up new prices in euros following conversion from kunas.
Ivan Lovrinović, Professor of Economics and a former Member of Parliament (MP), said that at a time of global economic turmoil, keeping control of Croatia’s domestic currency should have been the priority.
"The question now is why the countries more developed than Croatia, and more prepared for Eurozone membership like Hungary, Czechia, Poland don't even think about adopting the Euro! Why? Because in current destabilizing geopolitical conditions, the most important thing is to keep your national currency so you can control the crisis," he said.
