croatia became part of the eu in 2003.
when did croatia become part of the eu?
2003
also in july 2013 reding called on the government of croatia to change its law. the constitution of croatia claimed that "a citizen of the republic of croatia cannot be exiled from the republic of croatia nor have his citizenship revoked, nor can he be extradited to another country.", which was changed in 2010., now saying "a citizen of the republic of croatia cannot be exiled from the republic of croatia nor have his citizenship revoked, nor can he be extradited to another country, unless a decision of extradition has to be made in accordance to the international contract(s) or eu acquis." "zakon o pravosudnoj suradnji u kaznenim stvarima s državama članicama europske unije" (zopseu) (eng. the law of judicial cooperation in criminal matters with the member states of the european union) came into effect on 1 july 2013., the date croatia became an eu member. as croatia became a full-fledged eu member, european arrest warrants were sent to the addresses of croatian judiciary institutions, a total of 84 warrants by 2 july 2013. at 10 am. although the warrants included the warrant for josip perković, the police did not detain him, as the felony he is charged with took place before 2002., and by the same criteria, 19 other warrants will not be considered. viviane reding urged the croatian government to change this, as the media dubbed the problematic law "lex perković", and mrs reding threatened with diplomatic sanctions against croatia. however, as croatia wishes to be on par with other eu members, and in france the european arrest warrant is applied to felonies committed after 1 november 1993., and in austria, italy and luxembourg after 7 august 2002., there seems to be no reason croatia should abolish its 2002. rule, since a legal precedent in other eu member states exists.
viviane reding
after the second world war, croatia become part of the communist governed socialist federal republic of yugoslavia. at first, president marshal josip broz tito tried to break the centuries-long link between croatia and the holy see by offering archbishop stepinac a croatian national church but stepinac refused, which eventually resulted in attacks on the bishops in the summer of 1952. pope pius xii, wishing to pay tribute to archbishop stepinac for his faithfulness, elevated him to the college of cardinals in 1953 which triggered a reaction from the government. sfr yugoslavia cut diplomatic relations with the holy see, accusing it of interfering in internal state affairs. stepinac was put on trial and eventually found guilty for his cooperation with the nazi occupiers during the wwii. the holy see reacted by excommunicating president tito and some other officials who participated in the trial.
croatia–holy see relations