Croatia will raise excise taxes on tobacco products after it joins the European Union in July, Finance Minister Slavko Linic said.

“The current excise duties on tobacco are much lower than in the EU, so from July tobacco will be more expensive,” Linic told reporters today in Zagreb, the capital. He gave no specifics on the size of the planned increases.

The Adriatic Sea nation is set to join the bloc on July 1, 2013.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net