It is very simple actually. A lot of people have difficulty in admitting that Croatia is in the same league as France and England.
This is not the place for politics, but I will just say that most of Western Europe was against Croatia being an independent country 30+ years ago and they showed it by doing nothing while the barbarians committed terrible crimes against the Croats - they even imposed an embargo on us the import of weapons so that we cannot defend ourselves. These two countries that you mentioned stood out in this regard, and in this we should look for part of the reason why Croatia, as a small nation, is still underestimated in sports circles.
These same people would rate declining teams such as Germany, Danmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden at the same level as France, but somehow they tend to underestimate smaller nations. Anyway, I hope that Euro 2024 will give a good level of clarity on the quality of teams within the UEFA confederation. If Germany is unable to perform, despite being the hosts, then a lot of questions will be raised.
The money that individual nations invest in football and everything that comes with it must somehow be justified, and if small countries disrupt the plans of big ones, then that is not good for
"business". I have no doubt that at the next European championship we will talk about refereeing again, just as I have no doubt that they will try to do everything in their power to push the home team as close as possible to the final.