Croatia rings in New Year by switching to euro and removing EU checkpoints

At the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Croatia switched to the shared European currency, the euro, and removed dozens of border checkpoints to join the world’s largest passport-free travel area (Darko Bandic/AP)

At the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Croatia switched to the shared European currency the euro and removed dozens of border checkpoints to join the world’s largest passport-free travel area.

It marked a fresh start for the small Balkan nation of four million people that captured international attention three decades ago as the site of a brutal war that left nearly a quarter of its economy in ruins.