I do not own anything substantial. Saving for a house in the capital city would take about 15 years of frugal living as a programmer. I could also take a loan.
What I also dislike is the tax prepayments for business owners, which is basically legal theft. The government takes tax in advance and then gives you back the money if you overpaid after about a year. I wouldn't mind this if taxes were low.
Imagine being a business owner and there's a period of irregular income yet the advance tax payment arrives and bankrupts you.
The taxes here are just insanely high and everything is insanely inefficient. Healthcare, education and municipal services.
After moving from Croatia to Austria, it's much worse in Austria, a wealthier country but still, I see all of the same patterns of inefficiency and they are even worse because Croatia can't afford being so inefficient.
Are you owner of property like apartment or house there? Just wandering, if that makes a significant personal economic difference for owning it in EU.