(ANSA) - ZAGREB, 16 MAR - "It is reasonable to think that Croatia will be able to join the Schengen area of ;;free movement of people and adopt the single European currency by the first half of 2024", Croatian premier Andrej Plenkovic said in an interview. "It is a difficult task, but the deadline is reasonable," Plenkovic added. In July 2019, the Eurogroup admitted Croatia to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-II), the precursor of the euro's full adoption. Before the crisis caused by the coronavirus, Zagreb was aiming for January 2023. Still, the situation has significantly raised the public debt and the public deficit, forcing the suspension of the measures to consolidate public finances. "The recovery fund and other European aid and funds, accompanied by private investments, will enable us to restore public finances," added the premier. In 2019 Croatia obtained the green light from Brussels to join the Schengen zone. The European Commission has confirmed that the country has satisfied all the technical criteria, but the individual member countries' consensus has not yet arrived. Due to the migration crisis, it seems that Zagreb could still wait a long time to enter the area of free movement of people. (ANSA).