CROATIA has signed a treaty to join the EU in 2013, a bittersweet milestone as the bloc prepared to take on a sluggish economy it will have to drag along at the time of its worst crisis.

IT’S flagged as the affordable Italy: blue skies, a Tuscany-like landscape and only minutes from crystal-clear seas.

A UN war crimes tribunal envoy met with Serbian officials today to discuss efforts to capture one of the court’s most wanted suspects – former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic.

The European Union opened membership talks with Croatia after the United Nations war crimes tribunal’s chief prosecutor said the government in Zagreb was now co-operating fully with efforts to bring a suspect to trial.