With the arrival of the New Year, the inhabitants of Croatia found themselves in the eurozone and in Schengen. For the small Balkan state with a population of just under 4 million people, this is a historic day, Euronews reported.

On January 1, Croatia became the 20th country in the EU currency area, within which the euro is used. Croatia is no longer using its own currency, the kuna, which had been in circulation since 1994 to replace the Yugoslav dinar.

On Dec. 31 at midnight, Croatian Finance Minister Marko Primorac and Croatian National Bank Governor Boris Vujicic pulled out the first euro bills from a local ATM. On New Year's Eve, customers queued at banks to withdraw cash, fearing payment problems immediately after the end of the euro transition period.