Having been urged by none other than Nigel Farage to see some kind of alternative sane path forward, the Croatian government decided instead that accession to the EU was for them. Now, according to government estimates, since the joined the EU on July 1st, exports have fallen by 11% compared to the same period last year. As presseurop reports [5], the decline for the month of August alone was 19%. During the first eight months of this year, exports were down by 6.3% when compared with 2012. The reason for the fall-off, notes the newspaper, has do with the impact of EU accession — "which has exposed Croatia to greater international competition, and the loss of privileges associated with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)." Looks like Farage was right...
Farage's, now entirely prophetic warning begins... "the most important thing is that joining the EU is great news for the Croatian politicians, it's like winning the lottery..."
The headlines 2 months later...
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