Croatia Celebrates Independence Day

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has congratulated all Croats on the nation’s Independence Day. The national public holiday is marked yearly on 8 October and celebrates the unanimous decision of the Croatian Parliament – Sabor to terminate the link between Croatia and SFR Yugoslavia.

The Croatian referendum on independence was held in May 1991, with 93% of voters supporting the independence. On 25 June the Croatian Sabor proclaimed the Croatian independence and seven days later, on 7 July, Croatia as well as Slovenia signed the Brioni Declaration in which the two countries agreed to suspend all declarations and acts passed by the Croatian and Slovenian parliaments related to those states’ secession from Yugoslavia for a period of three months. On 8 October, the Sabor decided to end relations with Yugoslavia, in the Decision on the termination of the state and legal ties with other republics and provinces of Yugoslavia. That session was not held in the House of Parliament but instead in the basement of an INA building, because of the possibility of the repeat of an incident such as the bombing of Banski dvori.