Dismissed as a publicity stunt and a joke just 18 months ago when he claimed a piece of marshy land on the Danube as the Free State of Liberland, President Vit Jedlicka seems to be making progress with his dream of creating his own libertarian state between Croatia and Serbia. He is certainly getting the international column inches, including a double page spread in Croatia's leading broadsheet on October 30, 2016, Nedjeljni List.
1. When did you launch your e-residency app? Is it android only or iOS and Windows as well?
Beta testing of Liberland e-residency app was launched this week. It should take one month after which we will fine tune the basic functionalities, and we will release the first official version and start development of the iOS version. The iOS version will be launched at the beginning of next year. There will by many services to follow. For example we are working with a Croatian company now on open state accounting for our bitcoin transactions and institution of a public notary using a state of the art blockchain system.
2. Did you already have some downloads? How many people applied through e-residency app already?
For now it is in testing. We consider all 427,436 people that are registered today on our website as our e-residents. Our plan is to expand that group to over one million next year. This application is one of the first services that they will be able to enjoy. We expect that it will help to socialize our diaspora world wide and it will help our nationals abroad to do business in a very efficient way. Internally we call it the Uberification of the world.
3. In general, what is the state of Liberaland right now? How many residents, how many people applied? Do you have a Constitution? Are you already selling land there? How many embassies have you opened in the world?
There is enormous interest in Liberland worldwide, which is still increasing. We have representative offices in almost 80 countries. I keep on traveling around the world and promoting our national idea of freedom. I just got back from Brazil where there is a very strong and active Liberland community of 6000 people. I was invited to Congress and the Senate and visited the most watched talk show and delivered a lecture on Liberland on three occasions, the last of which was attended by 2500 people. Right now I am in Sarajevo speaking about Liberland at Open Fest. I am happy that the idea of freedom and voluntary taxes is also very popular in the national media here. Out of 427,436 e-residents we now have 109,159 eligible applicants for citizenship. We are not selling any land as we are considering the successful model of Hong Kong where land is not sold but rather rented. Our constitution has matured into a sophisticated 30-page document that we hope can be a good example for other countries.
4. What happened since we last spoke? Are you still banned from Croatia? When was your last visit to Liberland?
Since the last time we spoke I successfully visited Croatia a number of times without any problem. I also got invited by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship for a key regional conference. Last time I was in Liberland was last month, and I am heading there again this Sunday. I am also happy that the new Croatian government is again ideologically much closer to our national beliefs then the previous one so there will be open space for dialogue.
5. What are your next three steps in the immediate future?
We are continuously icreasing our support for Liberland worldwide and in the region. We want to prove to both countries and to the world how beneficial the existence of Liberland is. Our economists have calculated that over the next 50 years, a fully functional and prosperous Liberland could bring anywhere from an additional 26 to 64 percent of GDP growth to both Croatia and Serbia. We want to act as a new Hong Kong for Balkans.
6. Do you ever expect for Liberland to be internationally recognized?
It is not a question of if but when. We are a bit picky about the first country to recognize Liberland we want to make sure that this country is well recognized itself by international community and can be a good partner for further recognitions of Liberland in future. We would of course be happiest if it was Croatia and Serbia.
Freedom for Liberland! from MEL Films on Vimeo.
