Editing Foreign relations of Croatia (section)

===Foreign policy since independence===
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 | alt1 = [[Vesna Pusić]]
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 | alt3 = [[Tonino Picula]]
 | footer = [[Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Croatia)|Ministers of Foreign Affairs]]: [[Vesna Pusić]] (2011-2016), [[Mate Granić]] (1993-2000) and [[Tonino Picula]] (2000-2003)
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[[File:Ministry of Foreign Affairs building (Croatia).jpg|thumb|Ministry of Foreign Affairs building at the [[Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square]], 2007]]
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 | footer = Croatia was a member state of [[CEFTA]] between 2003 and 2013. Maps of CEFTA in 2003 and 2007.
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On 17 December 1991 the [[European Economic Community]] adopted the "''Common Position for the recognition of the Yugoslav Republics''" requesting the Yugoslav republics wishing to gain recognition to accept provisions of international law protecting human rights as well as national minorities rights in hope that credible guarantees may prevent incentives for violent confrontations.<ref name="Caplan">{{cite journal |last=Caplan |first=Richard |date=2002 |title=Conditional recognition as an instrument of ethnic conflict regulation: the European Community and Yugoslavia |journal=[[Nations and Nationalism (journal)|Nations and Nationalism]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=157–177 |doi=10.1111/1469-8219.00044 }}</ref><ref name="SIOUSSIOURAS">{{cite journal |last=Sioussiouras |first=Petros |date=2004 |title=The Process of Recognition of the Newly Independent States of Former Yugoslavia by the European Community: The Case of the Former Socialist Republic of Macedonia |journal=[[Journal of Political & Military Sociology]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |jstor=45371632 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45371632 }}</ref> Later that month [[Croatian Parliament]] introduced the [[Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia]] opening the way for 15 January 1992 collective recognition by the Community. Croatia maintained some links beyond the Euro-Atlantic world via its observer status in the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] which it enjoyed already at the [[10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement]] in [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]].<ref name="Jakovina-Treća strana">{{cite book |last=Jakovina |first=Tvrtko |author-link= Tvrtko Jakovina|date=2011|title=Treća strana Hladnog rata |publisher=Fraktura |isbn=978-953-266-203-0 }}</ref>

Following the [[international recognition of Croatia]] in 1992 the country was faced with the [[Croatian War of Independence]] between 1992 and 1995. A significant part of the country was outside of the control of the central government with the declaration of self-proclaimed unrecognized [[Republic of Serbian Krajina]]. In 1992 signing of the [[Sarajevo Agreement]] led to the cease-fire to allow [[UNPROFOR]] deployment in the country. Diplomatic efforts led to unsuccessful proposals which included the [[Daruvar Agreement]] and [[Z-4 Plan]]. In 1995 [[United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia|UNCRO]] mission took over the UNPROFOR mandate yet soon after [[Operation Storm]] led to a [[decisive victory]] for the [[Croatian Army]] with only the [[Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (1995–1998)|Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia]] remaining initially as a rump territory of Krajina. A diplomatic solution that avoided conflict in Eastern Slavonia was reached on 12 November 1995 via the signing of the [[Erdut Agreement]] with significant support and facilitation from the [[international community]] (primarily the [[United States]], and with [[United Nations]] and various [[Europe]]an actors).<ref name="Put do Erduta">{{cite journal | title = Put do Erduta-Položaj Hrvatske u međunarodnoj zajednici 1994.-1995. i reintegracija hrvatskog Podunavlja | first = Albert | last = Bing | journal = Scrinia Slavonica | volume = 7 | pages = 371–404 | publisher = Hrvatski institut za povijest | location = Zagreb | year = 2007 | url = http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=42842&lang=en }}</ref><ref name="Srpska oblast 1">{{cite journal | title = Srpska oblast Istočna Slavonija, Baranja i Zapadni Srijem – od "Oluje" do dovršetka mirne reintegracije hrvatskog Podunavlja (prvi dio) | first = Nikica | last = Barić | journal = Scrinia Slavonica | volume = 11 | pages = 393–451 | publisher = Hrvatski institut za povijest | location = Zagreb | year = 2011 | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/116220 }}</ref> Temporary [[UNTAES]] administration over the region opened the way for the signing of the [[Dayton Agreement]] which ended the [[Bosnian War]]. It also led to the signing of 1996 ''Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] and the Republic of Croatia''.<ref name="Document Retrieval">{{Cite web |url=https://peacemaker.un.org/croatiaserbia-normalizationagreement96 |title=Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia |author=n.a. |publisher=[[UN Peacemaker]] |language= |date=23 August 1996 |access-date=23 May 2023}}</ref>

With the resolution of some of the major bilateral issues arising from the [[Yugoslav Wars]] [[Croatia]]n [[foreign policy]] has focused on greater Euro-Atlantic integration, mainly entering the [[European Union]] and [[NATO]]. The progress was nevertheless slow in the period between 1996 and 1999 with rising concerns over authoritarian tendencies in the country. In order to gain access to European and [[Transatlantic relations|trans-Atlantic]] institutions, it has had to undo many negative effects of the [[breakup of Yugoslavia]] and the war that ensued, and improve and maintain good relations with its neighbours. Croatia has had an uneven record in these areas between 1996 and 1999 during the right-wing [[Croatian Democratic Union|HDZ]] government, inhibiting its relations with the [[European Union]] and the [[United States]]. In 1997 United States diplomacy even called upon its European partners to suspend Croatia from the [[Council of Europe]] as long as country fails to show adequate respect for human and minority rights.<ref name="USA-Podunavlje">{{cite journal|url= http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=68736 |title=Sjedinjene Američke Države i reintegracija hrvatskog Podunavlja|journal=Scrinia Slavonica|volume=8|issue=1|author= Albert Bing| publisher= Scrinia Slavonica, Vol.8, Croatian Institute of History|format=PDF |pages= 336–365|date= April 2016|access-date=2016-09-12}}</ref> Lack of improvement in these areas severely hindered the advance of Croatia's prospects for further Euro-Atlantic integration. Progress in the areas of Dayton, Erdut, and refugee returns were evident in 1998, but progress was slow and required intensive international engagement. Croatia's unsatisfactory performance implementing broader democratic reforms in 1998 raised questions about the ruling party's commitment to basic democratic principles and norms. Areas of concern included restrictions on freedom of speech, one-party control of public TV and radio, repression of independent media, unfair electoral regulations, a judiciary that is not fully independent, and lack of human and civil rights protection.

With the 1999 death of President [[Franjo Tuđman]], [[2000 Croatian parliamentary election]] as well as corresponding regional changes such as the [[Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević]], the [[European Union]] organized the 2000 Zagreb and 2003 [[Thessaloniki]] Summits in which European integration perspective was discussed for all the countries in the region.<ref name="WBSummit">{{cite web |url=https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2018-12/20160713-01.final-declaration-by-the-chair-of-the-paris-western-balkans-summit.pdf|title=Final Declaration by the Chair of the Paris Western Balkans Summit (4 July 2016)|access-date=25 July 2016 |author=[[2016 Western Balkans Summit, Paris]]}}</ref> The new [[Social Democratic Party of Croatia|SDP]]-led [[centre-left]] [[coalition government]] slowly relinquished control over public media companies and did not interfere with freedom of speech and independent media, though it did not complete the process of making [[Croatian Radiotelevision]] independent. Judiciary reforms remained a pending issue as well. The government's foreign relations were severely affected by the hesitance and stalling of the extradition of Croatian general [[Janko Bobetko]] to the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY), and inability to take general [[Ante Gotovina]] into custody for questioning by the Court. Nevertheless, Croatia managed to enter NATO's [[Partnership for Peace]] Programme in May 2000, [[World Trade Organization]] in July 2000, signing a [[European Union Association Agreement|Stabilization and Association Agreement]] with the EU in October 2001, [[Membership Action Plan]] in May 2002, and joined the [[Central European Free Trade Agreement]] (CEFTA) in December 2002. The EU membership application was the last major international undertaking of the [[Cabinet of Ivica Račan II|Račan government]], which submitted a 7,000-page report in reply to the questionnaire by the [[European Commission]]. Negotiations were initiated with the achievement of the full cooperation with the [[ICTY|Hague Tribunal]] in October 2005. Croatian president [[Stjepan Mesić]] participated in the NAM conferences in [[Havana]] in 2006 and [[Sharm el-Sheikh]] in 2009 using the country's post-Yugoslav link with the [[Third World]] in its successful campaign for the Eastern European Spot at the [[United Nations Security Council]] in 2008–2009 (in open competition with [[Czech Republic]] which was a member state both of EU and NATO).<ref name="UNSC-NAM">{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/hr/hrvatska-izabrana-u-vije%C4%87e-sigurnosti-un-a-kao-nestalna-%C4%8Dlanica/a-2828233 |title=Hrvatska izabrana u Vijeće sigurnosti UN-a kao nestalna članica |last=Avdović |first=Erol |date=17 October 2007 |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |access-date=31 March 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Mesić-NAM">{{cite web |url=https://slobodnadalmacija.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/nesvrstanima-hrvatski-zbogom-nakon-ulaska-u-eu-91105 |title=Nesvrstanima hrvatski zbogom nakon ulaska u EU |date=7 March 2010 |publisher=[[Slobodna Dalmacija]] |access-date=31 March 2020 }}</ref>

Refugee returns accelerated since 1999, reached a peak in 2000, but then slightly decreased in 2001 and 2002. The [[OSCE Mission to Croatia]], focusing on the governed by the [[UNTAES]], continued to monitor human rights and the return of refugees until December 2007 with the OSCE office in Zagreb finally closing in 2012.<ref name="HRW">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/croatia/Crosrb99-06.htm |title=Human Right Watch State Report-Croatia 1999, The Role of the International Community|website=www.hrw.org|publisher=[[Human Right Watch]]|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="OSCE-Zagreb-Office">{{cite web|url=http://www.osce.org/zagreb-closed |title=OSCE Office in Zagreb (closed)|website=www.osce.org|publisher=[[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]]|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> [[Serbs of Croatia|Croatian Serbs]] continue to have problems with restitution of property and acceptance to the reconstruction assistance programmes. Combined with lacking economic opportunities in the rural areas of [[Republic of Serbian Krajina|former Krajina]], the return process was only partial.