If the migrant crisis had not happened, Austria, too, would have fully opened its labour market to Croatians, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Zagreb on Monday.

After Slovenia had lifted all restrictions for Croatian workers on July 1, Austria now remains the only European Union member country to still enforce restrictions for Croatian workers.

“If the migrant crisis, with its broader context, had not happened, it (Austria) too would have fully opened its labour market to Croatians,” Plenkovic said on the margins of a conference on the fifth anniversary of Croatia’s membership in the EU, organised by the Croatian Chamber of Economy in Zagreb on Monday.

Plenkovic added that the fact that all but one out of the 28 EU member states have lifted all restrictions for Croatian workers is a success.

“If we did experience demographic problems (in Croatia), we would all perceive this as a success. This was the goal, one of the main draws for our EU membership bid was one of its four basic freedoms – the free movement of workers,” Plenkovic said.

“We have achieved a strategic objective: we have joined a club of the most developed countries, where the quality of life is the best by far. Our membership in the EU will help efforts to upgrade the standard and quality of life, and bring more order to our society,” he said.

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