ZAGREB, July 2, 2018 - If the migrant crisis had not happened, Austria too would have fully opened its labour market to Croats, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Zagreb on Monday.
After Slovenia lifted all restrictions on Croatian workers on July 1, Austria remains the only European Union member-state to have restrictions for Croatian workers still in effect.
"If the migrant crisis, with its broader context, had not happened, Austria would have fully opened its labour market to the Croatians," Plenković said on the margins of a conference on the fifth anniversary of Croatia's admission to the EU, which was organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce in Zagreb on Monday.
Plenković holds the fact that all but one EU member state have lifted all restrictions for Croatian workers to be a success. "If we did not have demographic problems, we would perceive this as a success. The free movement of workers was one of the magnets for our EU membership bid," the prime minister said.
"We have achieved a strategic objective: we have entered the community of the most developed countries, where living standards are the best. Our membership will be conducive to efforts to upgrade the quality of life and bring order to our society," he said.
