“Exploring Dubrovnik: A City Not in The European Union but Closely Connected to It,” is a headline that leaves more questions than answers. You might be forgiven for thinking that this headline is a very early April Fool’s joke. You’d be wrong. It is a real headline from the Malaysian Digest. And if the headline is confusing the actual text gets even more odd. “But is Dubrovnik in the European Union? This question has a complicated answer. While Croatia, the country in which Dubrovnik is located, is a member of the European Union, the city itself is not part of the EU. This means that travellers to Dubrovnik don’t need to worry about exchanging money for euros or following the same customs regulations as other EU countries. Nevertheless, Dubrovnik still has a close relationship with the EU and its citizens enjoy many of the same benefits as those who live in the union.”

So let’s run through this short paragraph with the correct info. “But is Dubrovnik in the European Union?” – answer YES. “This question has a complicated answer,” – answer not complicated at all, Dubrovnik is in Croatia and Croatia has been a full member of the EU since 2013. “While Croatia, the country in which Dubrovnik is located, is a member of the European Union, the city itself is not part of the EU,” – answer, see previous answer. “This means that travellers to Dubrovnik don’t need to worry about exchanging money for euros or following the same customs regulations as other EU countries,” – answer you do need euros in Dubrovnik, and you have to follow all customs (and indeed visa) regulations of other EU countries. “Nevertheless, Dubrovnik still has a close relationship with the EU and its citizens enjoy many of the same benefits as those who live in the union,” – answer, see all of the above answers.

The text gets worse (if that is possible), with this classic “Despite the fact that Croatia is a member of the EU, it is not yet a member of the Schengen Zone.” Croatia actually joined the EU border-free zone called the Schengen Zone at the beginning of this year. So you might think the article was old, no, wrong again, it was published yesterday, the 19th of January 2023.

So sorry to all the Malaysian tourists who turn up in Dubrovnik this summer and find a whole different story to this article.