Croatia 2003

Croatia Border Map

In 2003, Croatia was a small democratic nation located in Central Europe. With a population of around 4 million people and a GDP of $25 billion, it was one of the wealthier countries in the region.

According to computergees, the Croatian government had implemented several policies to promote economic growth, such as introducing free trade agreements with other countries and encouraging foreign investment. Despite this, the country still faced high levels of poverty and inequality that needed to be addressed.

The political landscape in 2003 was dominated by President Stjepan Mesić who had been in power since 2000. The country had recently adopted a new constitution which aimed to promote democracy and human rights but there were still some restrictions on freedom of speech and press due to strict censorship laws and surveillance practices. Despite this, Croatia had made progress towards becoming an increasingly open society with greater access to information and more freedoms for its citizens. The government also focused on providing free education and healthcare services for its citizens as well as promoting sustainable tourism initiatives that helped protect the environment. Economic growth was further bolstered by membership in the European Union which began in 2004.

Yearbook 2003

Croatia. The November parliamentary elections led the formerly dominant nationalist party HDZ to regain power after four years in opposition. HDZ became the largest party but did not get its own majority but was expected to seek a coalition with a few support parties.

It was uncertain whether the change of power would mean a change of course from the path towards reintegration into the rest of Europe and a return to nationalism and isolation. The exit was widely seen as a dissatisfaction with the Social Democrat-led government and its inability to boost the economy. HDZ leader Ivo Sanader also assured that the party is no longer the distinctly Croatian nationalist party that the founder, former president Franjo Tudjman, led in the 1990s. According to Sanader, the party under his leadership has been transformed into a modern, European right-wing party. He explained that even the new government sees one of its most important tasks to bring K. into the EU and NATO. Cooperation with the UN Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia is also to continue and Serbian refugees are allowed to return, it was called.

According to Countryaah.com, Croatia Independence Day is May 30. The cooperation was also slow with the center-left coalition led by Prime Minister Ivic¡a Rac¡an. His government promised cooperation but refused to disclose, among other things. former commander Janko Bobetko, who lived openly in Zagreb. Bobetko died in April, 84 years old, but new announcements of prosecution again aroused strong nationalist sentiments in many Croats. Particularly troublesome to the government was the issue of General Ante Gotovina, number three on the UN tribunal’s list of wanted but in K. considered a war hero. The government claimed he was not in the country, which the UN dismissed as untrue. To put pressure on the government, the United States announced a reward of up to $ 5 million for tasks leading to the arrest of Gotovina.

Croatia formally applied for membership in the EU in February, but the chance of joining the Union is likely to be small as long as the government refuses to release suspected war criminals.

Country data

Area: 56,594 km2 (world rank: 124)

Population: 4,126,000

Population density: 73 per km2 (as of 2017, world rank: 128)

Capital: Zagreb

Official languages: Croatian

Gross domestic product: 48.7 billion euros; Real growth: 2.8%

Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): 12,430 US$

Currency: 1 Kuna (K) = 100 Lipa

Embassy

Ahornstr. 4, 10787 Berlin
Telephone 030 21915514,
Fax 030 23628965 http://de.mfa.hr

Government
Head of State: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Head of Government: Andrej Plenkovic, Outside: Marija Pejcinovic Buric

National Day: 25.6. (Independence Day)

Administrative structure
20 counties and capital

State and form of government
Constitution of 1990
Republic
Parliament: Assembly (Sabor) with 151 members (8 seats for minorities, 3 reserved for representatives of Croatians abroad), election every 4 years
Direct election of the head of state every 5 J. (single re-election) Right to
vote from 18 years, employed persons from 16 years.

Population of: Croats, last census 2011: 4,284,889 residents
90.4% Croats, 4.4% Serbs, 5.2% others (Bosnians and others) Proportion of foreigners 2017: 1.1%

Cities (with population): (As of 2011) Zagreb (Agram) 688,163 inh., Split 167,121, Rijeka 128,384, Osijek (Esseg) 84,104, Zadar 71,471, Pula (Pola) 57,460, Sesvete 54,085, Slavonski Brod 53,531

Religions: 86,% Catholics, 4% Orthodox, 2 % Muslims; 4% without religion (as of 2006)

Languages: Croatian; Albanian; Recognized minority languages: Serbian, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Ruthenian, German, Ukrainian, Romanes, Beasch, Istror-Romanian Employed

by economic sector:
agriculture. 8%, industry 27%, business 65% (2017)

Unemployment (in% of all labor force): 2017: 11.1%

Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 1.3%

Foreign trade: Import: 21.9 billion euros (2017); Export: 14.2 billion euros (2017)

Croatia Border Map