Mixed emotions as Croatia joins EU

Croatia became the 28th member of the EU at midnight last night, a milestone capping the Adriatic republic’s recovery from war but tinged with anxiety over its economy and the state of the bloc it joins.

EU flags fluttered from a stage in Zagreb’s central square ahead of the evening’s festivities.

Croatia joins the EU just over two decades after declaring independence from federal Yugoslavia, the trigger for four years of war in which some 20,000 people died.