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EU threat to national dish angers Croats
Croatia is being swamped by a wave of Euroscepticism generated by a threat to the country's national dish. Just a year ago opinion polls showed that nearly 90 per cent of Croats favoured joining the European Union. Now almost half the country says Croatia is better off outside the EU, and when asked to explain their change of heart, many point to their stomachs.Croatia will begin EU accession talks next year, and could quickly join the union because it is already considered to have an economy as advanced as some existing members. The problem is visible at a market near the port of Split, where women in brightly coloured dresses clamour for custom. On the barrows in front of them lie small milky white cheeses the size of an old 45rpm record. This is homemade sir, considered the national dish of Croatia, eaten by millions at breakfast and delivered fresh from the farm straight to the market. The difficulty arises in the means of delivery to market. Ljubica Orsulic, who runs a smallholding of 20 cows and two goats, is typical in bringing the cheese to Split in the boot of her battered car. The EU takes a dim view of unrefrigerated cheese being delivered to market, particularly when summer temperatures can reach 35C (95F). And in return Mrs Orsulic, who runs her farm with her three children and used to be a Europhile, now takes a dim view of the EU. "I know that in a few years Croatia will have to enter the EU," she said. "But most of the market people here are terribly worried. We will have to buy new equipment, and that will make everything more expensive and then nobody will want my cheese any more," she added. At about 35 Croatian kuna, or about £3 per kilo, many shoppers clearly considered Mrs Orsulic's cheese a bargain worth taking a risk for, and by mid-morning she had sold out of her stock. Across the market though, Zvonimir Cicin-Sain was having less luck with the homebrewed raki his brother makes on the island on Korcula. A few punters showed some interest in his olive oil, but no one cared much for the artisan-produced spirit, corked up in old water bottles. "There are two ways to make raki," he said. "There is the 'industrial' way, and then there is the 'peasant' way. This stuff is made the 'peasant' way, which accounts for its potency, but which will certainly be illegal under EU rules." Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-12 |
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