What a great way of spending money

As the Sunday Times is behind a pay wall, I cannot link directly to an article by Bocan Pancevski's article this Sunday on the amount of money the EU is spending in a PR exercise in Croatia, hoping that the referendum on membership will go their way. Though why it should be their way seems mysterious: Croatia is poor and its economy is not terribly active while its political system is dysfunctional.

However, the author is a Senior Fellow in the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy and placed part of the article on its website.

The European Commission is planning to spend £16m on a public relations campaign to promote European enlargement ahead of the entry next year of Croatia, a country with such serious economic problems that it could be forced to seek a bailout.

Croatia’s credit rating was downgraded to junk status last week after a deterioration in its economy attributed to a lack of reforms.

This prompted fears that the Balkan country might require a bailout even before it joins the EU next July. Youth unemployment is about 40% and foreign investment is deterred by rampant corruption, organised crime and weak rule of law.

What better way there is of spending our money?