Croatia

The Republic of Croatia ended unilateral formal-legal relations with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with the Declaration on Sovereignty and Independence, on 25 June 1991. Following international recognition in 1992, Croatia became a member of the United Nations on 22 May 1992.The first decade of the independence (1990-2000) of the Republic of Croatia was marked by the war, which ended in 1995, and the nationalistic Centre-right Government of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) under President Franjo Tudjman, in power until the elections in January 2000. During this period the HDZ was in absolute majority in both houses of the Croatian Parliament – the House of Representatives and the House of Counties (a unicameral system was introduced 2000). Franjo Tudjman won both presidential elections (1992 and 1997) in the first round.The new Croat state public administration was built using the existing republican administration. Even though there was an administrative system for most of the functions of a state, certain services had to be developed from the very beginning (for example diplomatic service, defence, finances), as they were centralised in ex-Yugoslavia.