History of Croatia since 1990
The article History of Croatia since 1990 deals with the history of the Croatian Republic since 1990. The history of this period is particularly shaped by the Yugoslav Wars .
The war for Croatia's independence
As a result of a referendum on Croatia's independence , in which 93.2% of the electorate voted for sovereignty , Croatia declared its independence under Franjo Tuđman in June 1991 . International recognition followed on January 15, 1992, when the song " Danke Deutschland " was published on the occasion of Germany's recognition . The change from one-party system to parliamentary democracy took place over a decade.
The Yugoslav People's Army, which was de facto dominated by Serbia, tried to militarily put down the aspirations for independence. The military attempt to split off Croatian areas with both a large and a small proportion of the Serbian population from Croatia and to annex them to Serbia in the medium term , culminated in the almost four-year war in Croatia, which only after military successes of the Croats in 1995 ( military operation Oluja ) with the Dayton Treaty of December 14, 1995 ended.
Croatia after the war
With the signing of the Dayton Treaty on December 21, 1995 by the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman , the Serbian President Slobodan Milošević and the Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović , the multi-year warfare in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina ended.
From 1995 to the beginning of 1998 UNTAES prepared the final integration of the areas around Vukovar and in the Baranja .
On November 6, 1996, Croatia was admitted to the Council of Europe .
After Tuđman's death on December 11, 1999 and the parliamentary elections on January 3, 2000, there was the first change of government in 10 years. A broad coalition of six previous opposition parties led by the SDP took over the government. President Stipe Mesić and Prime Minister Ivica Račan became . The initial euphoria among many of the HDZ's opponents quickly subsided when it became apparent that the hoped-for changes could not take place overnight.
In 2001 the first internal conflicts arose over cooperation with the International Court of Justice in The Hague , and the HSLS under Dražen Budiša left the government. The coalition government was often accused of being too hesitant to come to terms with the 10 years of HDZ government and of shying away from important reforms.
In the November 2003 elections, the HDZ was again the party with the highest number of votes. In December it formed a minority government with the support of the HSU pensioners' party and other small parties as well as most of the representatives of the national minorities. Ivo Sanader became the new Prime Minister .
In 2003, the USA canceled its military aid to Croatia because it had ratified the statute of the International Criminal Court .
On June 18, 2004, the heads of state and government of the European Union granted Croatia the status of an official candidate country. The start of accession negotiations, originally scheduled for March 17, 2005, was postponed for the time being, as the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague accused Croatia of not having done enough to apprehend the defendant Ante Gotovina . It was not until October 3, 2005 that the EU Council of Ministers in Luxembourg made the decision to start accession negotiations, as the International Criminal Court has now certified Croatia as "full cooperation". Gotovina was arrested on the Spanish island of Tenerife on December 7, 2005 and transferred to the Hague Criminal Court on December 10.
Croatia became a member of the European Union in 2013. After Slovenia , it has since become the second successor state to the former Yugoslavia to become a member of the Union.