Tens of thousands of Croatians cheered the country’s entry into the EU at midnight on Sunday as fireworks lit up the skies above Zagreb. It was a historic moment for the former Yugoslav republic, coming nearly two decades after it emerged from a bloody independence war in the 1990s.
About 20,000 people gathered in Zagreb’s main square, joining more than 100 European dignitaries to mark the event on the stroke of midnight when Croatia officially became the bloc’s 28th member.
“Welcome to the European Union,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the crowd.
Countdown celebrations were held in towns throughout the country as crowds cheered the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, waving EU and Croatian flags in joy.
Welcoming Croatia into the bloc, European President Herman van Rompuy said the country had “crossed an important threshold.”
“It will change the life of this nation for good,” Van Rompuy told the festive crowd in Zagreb.
As thousands of Croatians took to the city squares to celebrate, officials removed the “Customs” sign at a border crossing with fellow EU member Slovenia.
At the same time, the EU sign appeared at the land border with Serbia, another former Yugoslav republic which on Friday got a green light from Brussels to open membership talks by January next year, but the celebrations were overshadowed by economic worries that the membership would only burden already recession-hit Croatia’s economy.
“There is nothing to celebrate, it will not get better, prices will jump and we will become a cheap workforce,” 30-year old Zagreb administrator Branka Horvat said.
The center-left government hopes that EU entry will attract badly needed foreign investment and boost the economy, with 11.7 billion euros (US$15 billion) of potential financial aid.
Croatia’s tourism-oriented economy has been either in recession or stagnant for the past four years, while unemployment stands at about 20 percent.
The country’s per capita GDP is 39 percent below the EU average, with only Romania and Bulgaria lagging behind, the bloc’s figures show, but Croatian President Ivo Josipovic vowed not to “let the cloud of the economic crisis overshadow our vision and optimism.”
“The crisis is a challenge, an invitation to make tomorrow better than today,” Josipovic said in his celebratory speech in Zagreb.
A lavish EU entry celebration in Zagreb included performances by about 700 singers, musicians and dancers at three stages decked out in the EU’s trademark blue color.
Nik Kolveshi, 23-year-old student from Zagreb, said Croatia was “finally joining its family.”
“Many opportunities will open as we will be officially linked with Europe,” Kolveshi said.
“I am satisfied that we are finally there where we belong, but we are not ecstatic, as we have a pile of problems to deal with,” psychiatrist Lukrecija Pavicevic said.
However, Croatia’s branch of global Occupy movement declared: “EU entry is an economic genocide against our citizens.”
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic earlier dismissed fears that the country, with a population of 4.2 million, would be an economic burden on the EU.
“At the end of the day, we are not a part of the eurozone,” he said, referring to the crisis-ridden single currency bloc.
In a toast at the official dinner on Sunday, Josipovic described the EU accession as the “end of one stage in Croatia’s history and the beginning of a new, European age for us.”
“The moment of Croatia’s accession to the EU is a time of many doubts and questioning. In Croatia, also, there are similar dilemmas,” Josipovic added, in a reference to the eurozone debt crisis.
Zagreb has aspired to join the EU ever since it proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia, a move that sparked the bloody 1991-1995 war against rebel Serbs backed by Belgrade.
Croatia becomes only the second former Yugoslav republic to join the bloc, after Slovenia, following the bloody breakup of the former communist federation in the 1990s.
Heads of state from all six former Yugoslav republics were among the guests, but the leaders of many EU member states, including Britain, France and notably Germany, did not attend.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel cited a full workload to excuse herself from the event, but both Croatian media and the opposition labeled her decision a “diplomatic slap.”
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS