ZAGREB (AFP) ? Croatia on Saturday celebrated 20 years of independence, buoyed by an offer from the European Union to accept the former Yugoslav republic as its 28th member in 2013.
"We celebrate two decades of Croatia's modern statehood strengthened by the success in achieving a strategic goal -- Croatia's return home, where we belong, to Europe," Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor told a special government session in Zagreb.
EU leaders said on Friday that after "intensive efforts", Croatia was ready to conclude lengthy accession talks by the end of June, paving the way for it to join the bloc on July 1, 2013.
The EU's green light for Croatia, which comes 16 years after the end of Croatia's 1991-1995 war, has raised the hopes of other Balkan nations.
But the anniversary celebrations come against a background of hard times: Croatia has been in recession since early 2009 and the recovery is expected to be slow.
President Ivo Josipovic called Saturday for fresh efforts to get the country's economy back on the track. Later Saturday, Josipovic will host a dinner in Zagreb for his Slovenian and Hungarian counterparts, Danilo Turk and Pal Schmitt.
At Saturday's ceremonies top officials gathered in the eastern town of Vukovar to remember the 20,000 killed during the 1991-1995 war.
The town, which was captured by rebel Serb forces backed by the Yugoslav army after a brutal three-month-long siege, has become a symbol of Croatia's suffering during the war.
Even after the conflict, Croatia was held back by the authoritarian and nationalist rule of the country's first president, Franjo Tudjman.
And as well as thwarting democratic reforms, Tudjman's regime pushed through fraudulent privatisations that nearly ruined the country's economy, already hard-hit by the war.
It was only after Tudjman's death in December 1999 that Croatia started its transformation into a genuine parliamentary democracy striving to join Europe.
Croatia will be the second former Yugoslav republic to join the EU after Slovenia, which has been a member of the bloc since 2004.
Across the border in Slovenia, nationwide celebrations to mark the anniversary kicked off kicked off on Friday evening in the capital Ljubljana.
The two countries declared their independence from communist Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991 -- heralding the start of the multi-ethnic federation's break-up in a series of wars in the 1990s.
While Slovenia was allowed to go its own way after 10 days of clashes, Croatia faced fierce opposition from Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs who opposed its independence.
Today, a recent opinion poll showed that 38 of Slovenians and 43 percent of Croatians believed they live in worse conditions than 20 years ago.
But more than 90 percent in both countries nevertheless believed the decision to go for independence had been the right one.
Many ordinary Croatians blame their political elites for their country's failure to achieve more in both economic and social terms.
"In 1991 I was charged with national feeling ... hoping that we would become a part of democratic Europe," Hrvoje Djurak told AFP as he walked in downtown Zagreb on a sunny day.
"Today, due to our incapable politicians who led the country to the verge of poverty, I'm disappointed and unsure regarding the future," the 43-year-old primary school teacher added.
Not all Croatians are enthusiastic about EU membership.
A recent poll showed an increase of EU supporters to 51.2 percent but opponents, on 42.7 percent, remain a strong force.
Yugoslavia consisted of six republics -- Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, all of which are now independent states.
Kosovo too had broken away from Serbia and declared its independence, although Belgrade does not recognise its former southern province.
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