We mark Independence Day faced with many challenges, Croatia needs unity and to look ahead!

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Friday congratulated Croatian citizens on Independence Day, observed today, saying that it was a memorial day marking parliament's historic decision to launch Croatia's separation from the former Yugoslavia.

By adopting the Constitutional Decision on Croatia's sovereignty and independence and the Declaration on the proclamation of a sovereign and independent Croatia on 25 June 1991, the Croatian parliament confirmed the plebiscitary will the Croatian people expressed at a referendum the previous May, Plenković said in his message.

We confirmed that freedom and independence, that centuries-long dream of the Croatian people, by winning in the Homeland War, he said, thanking Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman and all defenders and their families "whose lives and sacrifice are woven into the foundations of Croatia's independence."

Plenković said that 30 years after the parliamentary decision which set the path towards independence, Croatia was a member of the EU and NATO, had chaired the Council of the EU, and was about to join Schengen and the eurozone, which he said were the remaining strategic EU integration goals on which the government was intensively working.

Today, faced with new challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of devastating earthquakes, climate change and catching up with the fourth industrial revolution, we are committed to economic recovery, reconstruction, energy, green and digital transition, demographic revitalisation and reforms, Plenković said.

Crucial for making the economy more resilient to future threats and for swift post-crisis recovery are the investments and reforms the government envisaged in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, for which we obtained considerable funds at European level, he said.

Observing Independence Day, faced with numerous challenges, Croatia needs unity and to look to the future more than ever, he concluded.

Text: Hina

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