One would need to be totally blind, or stupid, not to see the politically orchestrated communications from the pro-EU-leaning leftist Croatian mainstream media and European Commission (EC) President Jean-Claude Juncker’s announcement mid-last week. Croatia’s so-called demographic experts say that Croatia could take at least 50,000 new immigrants in short-term to make up for the potential work-force losses that emerged through mass exodus of people due to unemployment the day before EC’s Juncker in his annual state of the union speech made an announcement regarding “swift inclusion in Europe’s visa-free Schengen area”. The fact that there was no reference to the rich and large Croatian diaspora as part of Croatia’s demographic “experts” contemplating immigration earns concern and utter disillusionment; after all, Croatia’s government’s mouth is full of calling upon the Croats from the diaspora to return to Croatia! Were this not a lip service only, there would, one justifiably expects, have been some kind of Croatian government reaction to the mainstream media immigration claims, stating its position on the progress of any plans targeting the diaspora return to bolster workforce deficit. Both Bulgaria and Romania should be swiftly included in Europe's visa-free Schengen area, said in his annual state of the union speech Wednesday 13 September, adding that Croatia also deserves full membership of the zone."If we are to have a stronger European Union, it needs to be more inclusive too. If we want to bolster our external borders, and rightly so, then it is high time to bring Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area. Croatia too deserves full membership of the Schengen area as soon as all of the criteria are met," Juncker said.Juncker’s story emerged as a story hardly anyone foresaw. According to his claims the Eurozone is growing faster than the United States! Europe’s booming economy was near the top of Juncker’s topic list. Ten years since the crisis struck, “Europe’s economy is finally bouncing back,” the European commission president told MEPs, declaring: “the wind is back in Europe’s sails”.The Eurozone might overall be doing better, but this masks the fact that the crisis sweeping it during the past few years has left deep scars and many wounds are far from healed. In France, the economy is expanding at an annualised rate of 1.7%, fuelled by confidence in French president Emmanuel Macron and his reform agenda, but growth continues to lag the Eurozone average. Germany’s economy remains solid, but Germans are increasingly worried about inequality and low-wage jobs. Spain has bounced back from the crisis, but inequality is rising and unemployment remains painfully high at 17% - second only to Greece. Italy’s economy is doing better, but worries remain over its heavily indebted banks. Despite the rapid pace of job creation, Eurozone unemployment remains high at 9.1%, worse than the EU 7.7% average and the US 4.3%.Juncker's boasting that the Eurozone is doing better than the US certainly does not seem to be supported by the actual unemployment figures. High unemployment figures ripple with negative and suppressing effects on other areas and this is at the top of the list of reasons why the Eurozone is looking for economic reforms, especially keeping an eye at the Macron’s proposals for far-reaching labour reforms in France, which would reportedly make it easier for the young and low-qualified to enter the labour market. There are those who believe that Macron’s formula of reforms could kick-off a golden age for the Eurozone, hence, it is expected that Macron will unfold a detailed blueprint of his labour reforms plans, which include a Eurozone finance minister and parliament, a couple of days after September 2017 elections in Germany.In the push to transition the Eurozone from an imperfect monetary union into a solid economic continent is reflected in Juncker’s proposals that include significantly more help for all EU member countries so that the ones who already haven’t could to join the euro, which, he said, would truly make the EU into “the single currency Union”. He further proposed a wide range of institutional changes, including the creation of an EU finance minister and the widening of the Schengen area, in which passport-free travel is allowed and, presumably, workforce mobility between the member countries.In a call for the presidencies of the European commission and the European council, the body comprising the member states’ leaders, to be combined and directly elected in the future, Juncker said the EU needed to be more flexible and streamlined. “Europe would be easier to understand if one captain was steering the ship,” he said.According to the Guardian UK report Juncker also put his weight behind calls for the European parliament seats previously held by British MEPs to be elected on a transnational basis. Juncker added that the council should adopt qualified majority voting, rather than unanimity, on foreign policy issues and drive forward in European defence. “By 2025 we need a fully-fledged European defence union,” he said. “We need it. And NATO wants it.” He also added the EU would establish a European cybersecurity agency. “Cyber-attacks know no borders and no one is immune,” he said.Juncker told MEPs he intended to start trade talks with Australia and New Zealand, and promised to legislate to protect strategic interests from foreign purchases through industrial screening. Given the Brexit and the CANZUK proposal for increased ties between the nations of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom one wonders what fight the EU might have on its hands in attempts to encroach on the traditional Commonwealth alliances. While a joint statement from the French, German and Italian governments following Juncker’s speech endorsed the move, the scenario will be most interesting to watch and keep an eye on as, indeed, it spells out new forces muscling in onto the traditional Commonwealth “unity of sorts” inclinations.Now more than ever it appears that those in Croatia who at the 2012 EU referendum were not in the mood for signing Beethoven's Ode to Joy are paving the streets with the “I told you so – EU will suck the life out of Croatian hard-earned independence and sovereignty”. While leading political parties fuel divisions on historical lines Croatia has been increasingly sucked into the Eurozone's financial and economic problems, and unlike Ireland, increasingly neglecting its diaspora that should be its ticket to national prosperity. What a shame! Time to act! Time to pull the diaspora reins in! Ina Vukic
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