On the other hand, Croatians can freely work anywhere in the Schengen area, right? And vice versa to bring jobs to Croatia?
In general you cannot move around within the eu and work from another country beyond 90 days. Which imho defeats the purpose of calling it a single market
Indeed, Schengen is completely unrelated to work visas, it simply removes border control within the area.
Freedom of movement rights come from the EEA Single Market (EU + Iceland, Lichensteain, and Norway) plus Switzerland (through a complex series of ad-hoc agreements with the EU.) Not all EEA members are in the Schengen area but they still enjoy freedom of movement rights, they just have to go through border control entering the Schengen area.
> In general you cannot move around within the eu and work from another country beyond 90 days. Which imho defeats the purpose of calling it a single market
This is inaccurate. As an EEA/Swiss citizen you still have the right to work beyond 90 days. I think you may need to register with the country's social security office beyond that though. The 90 day rule is effectively there to prevent benefit tourism.
For instance, when I moved to Norway some years ago for a job I was able to start work without any paperwork as a then EU citizen but had to register with the tax office for a tax number before they were able to actually pay me with the proper tax withholdings.
""" If you want to remain in an EU, EEA state or Switzerland for more than 90 days, you may be asked to show that you are:
- In employment
- Self-employed
- A full time student with health insurance and money to support yourself
- You have money to support yourself and health insurance (for you and your family) without state assistance """
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/...
Edit: Perhaps you are referring to remote work? If so then I think the situation in the EU is similar to that in the US where your employer must withhold state taxes in the state where you perform your work.
As the sibling comment said, they taxes are enormous, public services openly hostile to everyone, and public medical services (which you pay a lot anyway) are arguably worse then 40 years ago.
The coast is beautiful in places, the islands are even more so. But there is a difference between living there and visiting. I would even argue that the cities you mention are much worse to live in than say Croatia's capital Zagreb. The cities are very hot during summer, and just miserable outside of it. I would even argue that most of the coast/islands are like that, small towns are empty and dead outside of the summer season, and too crowded during one.
Personally, I would rather live in an alive place, and visit Croatia's islands now and then, then in a place which springs to life two months a year.
Similarly to the way some EU members applied transitional arrangements temporarily limiting free movement rights to citizens of new members states, Switzerland currently has a quota on Croatian citizens moving there.
"The Federal Council’s decision of 16 November 2022 to invoke the safeguard clause for Croatian nationals applies initially for the year 2023. It may be extended until the end of 2024." https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/themen/fza_schweiz-eu-e...