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Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Tuesday laid wreath at the Monument to the Homeland in Zagreb on the occasion of Statehood Day, observed on 30 May in memory of 30 May 1990 when the first democratic multiparty Croatian parliament was founded.
During the ceremony, Parliament Speaker Jandroković extended congratulations and said that the Croatians could be proud of what they had achieved so far.
"New challenges are ahead of us. We must go forward courageously," said Jandroković.
The date 30 May 1990 is a point at which it was made clear that the Croatian nation strove for an independent, sovereign and free country and that it wanted democracy and multi-party system after 45 years of the Communist totalitarian rule, said Jandroković.
"We managed to accomplish all those objectives, although we were exposed to the Great Serbian aggression. The credit goes to the first Croatian President Franjo Tuđman and Croatian soldiers for the accomplishment of those goals, the Sabor Speaker added.
He recalled that after the Homeland War, Croatia gained international reputation, and entered NATO and the European Union. On 1 January this year, it joined the Schengen area and the eurozone, he recalled.
We have become a part of the Western integration processes, for which we strove in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s, said Jandroković.
In the period to come we are supposed to strengthen the living standards of our citizens and upgrade the healthcare and judiciary and tackle the issue of depopulation, he added.