Suchergebnisse

The author summarizes twentieth-century Croatian history through 2000, including Croatia's succession from Yugoslavia, sparking the Yugoslav Wars, as well as President Franjo Tudjman's dictatorial regime only ending with the latter's death in 1999. The author, who was president of Croatia from 2000 to 2010, argues that his government enforced laws respecting the rights of minorities. The author justifies his country's petition for EU membership, and notes Croatia's wide diplomatic relations with its neighbors and others in Europe as well as his government's anticorruption campaign. The author emphasizes the importance of future improved relations with Serbia. He recommends that Serbia and the other successor states of the former communist Yugoslavia orient their foreign policies towards the EU. Adapted from the source document.

The speech given by Stjepan Mcsic, President of the Republic of Croatia, at the conference "15 Years of Croatian Democracy" held at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Zagreb on 11 November 2005 gives an account of the evolution of democracy in Croatia. The importance of the role of the Croatian parliament (Sabor) is analyzed. The Croatian Sabor has not only been the institutional state/legal expression of the sovereignty of the Croatian people within various state & national entities (apart from the period between 1918 & 1941) but also an expression of communality as a manifestation of the freedom of speech, assembly & agreement -- in short, the ultimate expression of the popular democratic spirit. In this speech, various aspects of the democratic development in Croatia since 1990 are analyzed. It is pointed out that in the last fifteen years Croatia has witnessed social & political protests & conflicts on a variety of occasions & for a variety of reasons, proving that it is capable of coping with ideological, social & political antagonisms & discords. Adapted from the source document.