Croatia applies for full EU membership

Croatia formally applied for European Union membership yesterday, hoping to leave behind its bloody Balkan past and join the wealthy bloc this decade. Prime Minister Ivica Racan, leader of a reformist coalition that ousted nationalists from power in 2000, handed in the request to start entry talks to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, whose country presides over the union until July. "Croatia is formalising its strategic goal of becoming an integral part of this new political entity," Racan said after submitting the one-page paper.

It was accompanied by a multimedia CD with facts on Croatia, pictures of its scenic Adriatic coast and top athletes - former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and skier Janica Kostelic.

Croatia, a country of 4.4 million people, won independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 but then fought a four-year war with its rebel Serb minority. It remained isolated during the nationalist rule of late President Franjo Tudjman, who died in 1999. Apart from Slovenia, which is among the first ex-communist countries due to join the bloc in 2004, Croatia is the only other former Yugoslav republic to apply to the EU since the socialist federation collapsed in ethnic bloodshed in 1991.

"United Europe is an unprecedented challenge of the new era and Croatia has a right to participate in this magnificent process," Racan said.

European Commission President Romano Prodi said in a statement the application showed the Balkans was resolved to put behind it forever the dramas and traumas of its recent past.

"Only once the Balkan countries are members can the Union's enlargement and Europe's reorganisation be considered complete," he said, but reminded aspiring members such as Croatia they had to accept civil and social freedoms and respect human rights.

"The road that lies ahead will not be easy. These countries will be asked to bring themselves into line with Community standards," he said.